Alexia's First Year
by Ecrivain Sage
Summary: It's Alexia's First Year at Hogwarts.
1. Introduction

It was a quiet afternoon in a small suburb of London, England. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and outside a large house with white siding inside a large neighborhood, the laugher of a small child rang through the air. It seemed to be a perfectly respectable neighborhood, filled with lawyers and businessmen, and nothing odd ever happened there.  
  
The white house was also very normal. It had a weathervane on the roof, a TV antenna on the side, and a telephone wire sticking out and running to a nearby pole. The yard was neat, as was the small flowerbed that ran under the window and the perfect condition of the house and it's black shutters. There were two cars in the driveway and no signs that this house held anything unusual. But inside resided a family, very different from you and me.  
  
This house belonged to the Malfoy family, which consisted of four people, Brent; the Father; Ruby; Brent's Mother; Gavin; Brent's son; and Alexia; Brent's daughter. To their neighbors they were very normal and pleasant people, but truth way that they were not normal.by any means.  
  
For you see Brent, Ruby and Gavin all had gifts that normal people did not. They were magical folks, witches and wizards. Ruby, who was a short, elderly witch with long gray hair that held a tint of red and she had crystal blue eyes. She was a muggle born, and sadly, when her Mother and Father found out she was a witch, they abandoned her. Ruby grew up with her real parents, Lisa and Drake Denal in Wales, until the age of ten, when her gifts were realized. She was then sent to live with her Mother's cousin, Melissa, who was a witch herself. Melissa nurtured Ruby's gifts, but Ruby was not happy. She wanted to be with her Mother, Father and two sisters, but they wanted nothing to do with her.  
  
Ruby attended Hogwarts and was in the top of her class. The wizarding world fascinated her, and she wanted to learn all she could. She was never very good at flying, but loved to watch Quidditch with her friends. From what Melissa told Ruby, she came from a line of Hufflepuffs, and Ruby was no different. She was Head Girl and Prefect her last three years and had a great love for Hogwarts.  
  
During her 6th year, she met a very kind Slytherin boy named Chaz Malfoy. Chaz was a 7th year, and the son of Draco Malfoy. He was tall and thin with pure blond hair and crystal blue eyes; the spitting image of his Father. Although Draco never approved, Chaz fell in love with Ruby. They continued to see each other after they graduated from Hogwarts and two years after graduation they got married.  
  
After this Chaz lost touch with his Father, but kept in touch with his Mother, Pansy Parkinson, a shorter woman with blond hair and blue eyes, just like Draco. She had married Draco four years after they graduated from Hogwarts. Chaz was the eldest and had a brother, Draco Jr., who was about two years younger, and three sisters, Molly; who was four years younger, Gwen; three years younger; and Hanna; who was seven years younger. All the children looked exactly the same, tall and thin with blond hair and blue eyes. They all had very cold looks to their faces, but Chaz was different. True he was ambitious (that's why he was in Slytherin) but he didn't hate the Muggles of the world. It was quite the opposite, Chaz loved the Muggle world and those who dwelled in it. He often wished to himself that he could go to their world and see what it was like to be a Muggle.  
  
Pansy would come alone to Chaz and Ruby's house once a month and send owls weekly. She would often beg Draco to come with her, but he refused.  
  
"The second he married that Mudblood is the second he lost all connections to me," snapped Draco.  
  
Pansy finally gave in, and decided to visit him alone, sometime accompanied by the other children, but very rarely, since Draco refused to let them go. After all, he didn't want his children being contaminated by Chaz.  
  
After being married for about a two years, Ruby gave birth to her first child, a little girl that they named Melissa, after Ruby's Aunt, who had died a month before. As she grew old she became very small and pretty, with her bright blue eyes and pure blond hair and grew to be a very good little girl. A year later Brent was born. He was a very large child with dark red hair and crystal blue eyes. Three years after Brent, Gavin was born, but died in a horrible attack by some remaining supporters of Lord Voldemort when he was 19. He was very handsome and tall with long dark red hair that he held back in a ponytail and sparkling blue eyes.  
  
When Gavin died, Brent had already married a muggle woman named Maureen Smith, who had green eyes and long brown hair, and she was pregnant with their first child. When Brent's brother died, Maureen agreed that they would name him Gavin, in honor of his late brother. Ruby herself even claimed that little Gavin looked exactly like Brent's brother, with his dark red hair and crystal blue eyes.  
  
When little Gavin was born, life seemed to go terribly wrong. Ruby wanted Gavin to go to Hogwarts, like they had, and become a wizard, while Maureen refused to allow her son to go. But the arguments were put aside when Brent's Grandmother died. Pansy died of heart failure and her death brought Chaz slightly closer to his Father. The day after she died, Chaz gathered all his courage to see his Father.  
  
Draco was very old, though he didn't look it. He was still as stubborn and mean as ever. Chaz didn't dare go alone; so he took Brent with him.  
  
By this time Brent had reached his prime. He was about twenty-five years old, with short brown hair and crystal blue eyes. He was tall, well build and a very kind look to his face. He had graduated from Hogwarts as Hufflepuff Prefect and Head Boy. He had also led his Quidditch team to the House Cup all seven years.  
  
It had been a stormy evening when Chaz and Brent arrived at the house. The house elves answered the door, and showed them inside the large manor. They went into the study, where Draco in front of the fire. Chaz told Brent to stay quiet by the door as he moved into the room. Chaz set his hand lightly on his Father's shoulder, but he snapped up at him.  
  
"What do you want?" snapped Draco, moving away quickly so that Chaz touched him for only a moment.  
  
Chaz jumped back slightly, and stumbled over the worlds.  
  
"Erm.well.I just." he stammered, his face draining of color.  
  
"Spit it out and leave!" hissed Draco, "Stupid boy."  
  
"I just wanted to see how you were doing," Chaz blurted out.  
  
Draco rose from his chair and looked at his son. He walked past and his gaze shifted to Brent, who stood near the door.  
  
"Child doesn't even look like a Malfoy," muttered Draco, shaking his head, "Disgraceful."  
  
Brent's face turned red with anger. He was tempted to say something, but the look on his Father's face made him stop.  
  
"It's good to see you, Grandpa," said Brent, trying to sound happy.  
  
Draco glared at him.  
  
"I am not you Grandfather, boy," sneered Draco.  
  
He spun around and glared at Chaz.  
  
"Leave." he spat, pointing to the door.  
  
Draco sat down in his chair, but Chaz refused to leave.  
  
"Why have you always treated me like this?" he asked.  
  
"Because you are a disgrace," muttered Draco, "You should know that. You have soiled the Malfoy name."  
  
"I haven't done anything to our name," said Chaz, defending himself.  
  
Draco chuckled slightly.  
  
"Oh sure, marring a mudblood, having children with her, and having your children fight the remaining supporters of the Dark Lord," he spat, "Not a disgrace at all."  
  
Chaz and his Father started to argue and before Brent knew it, they both had their wands out and ready to attack. But before Brent could stop them it was too late.  
  
"iAvada Kedavrai!" shouted Draco.  
  
Brent jumped out of the way but for his Father it was too late. Brent looked up and saw his Father, face down on the floor, dead. Sadness rushed through his body, then fear, and then he was suddenly overcome with such hatred that he didn't know what to do. He looked up and saw Draco standing above him, staring down at him.  
  
"You better run, boy," he snarled.  
  
But Brent didn't run. The anger that had been passed down on his Father's side was raging through him.  
  
"No," said Brent firmly.  
  
Draco's face twisted and he looked confused.  
  
"What?" he asked curiously.  
  
"I said no!" exclaimed Brent.  
  
Draco laughed. It echoed through the room and suddenly he stopped and looked down at Brent again.  
  
"I admire your courage," said Draco, "But it'll get you into trouble."  
  
Draco held his wand up to Brent's face. Brent sat there, helpless and scared. He had to do something. Thinking very quickly he grabbed his own wand and shouted a spell.  
  
"iExpelliarmusi!" he yelled.  
  
Draco's wand came flying into his hand as Draco fell to the floor.  
  
"You stay away from my family!" yelled Brent.  
  
Brent returned home that night, the body of his Father in tow. His death came as such a shock, that Ruby became bed ridden for several days.  
  
After that things became a little better. On Gavin's 10th Birthday, Brent and Maureen discovered that there was another child on the way. Maureen gave birth to a little girl, which they named Alexia. She was a beautiful child, with bright red hair and sparkling green eyes. Everything seemed as though it couldn't get any better.  
  
But all was not well in the Malfoy household. Maureen and Brent were fighting more frequently, leaving Gavin to protect his little sister from the harshness of their words. When Alexia was just two years old her Mother moved out for the first time. After six months later she moved back, but the yelling and hatred started again, more harsh words, flying objects, and angry voices. It was the day before Alexia's 4th birthday when her Mother left for good.  
  
Alexia remembered sitting around the table, presents spread in front of her, crying her eyes out because her Mother wasn't coming home for her birthday. Eventually Alexia's sadness turned to anger and she wanted nothing to do with her Mother. 


	2. Discover the truth

After all of this the Malfoy Family had recovered quite well and Brent and Ruby slowly started recovering after the divorce. By the time Alexia was seven, Gavin had graduated from Hogwarts and was working for a Gringotts division in Diagon Alley. He was always home, which was the exact opposite of her Father. He was always away on business or something, but Alexia never found out exactly what he was doing.  
  
You see Brent's sister, Melissa, was born without magical powers, so the reality that Alexia might not have magical powers was very real to him. He forbade Gavin and Ruby to tell Alexia about their world, she was not allowed to go to Kings Cross Station with them, they owned a TV, a car, and used the telephone instead of owls. Brent kept all of their wizarding things in his study, which he always kept locked, but once in a while, the door would be left open just a little and Alexia would see wonderful things her eyes had never see before. There was a beautiful owl sitting on a perch near the window, surrounded by pieces of thick paper and feathers that looked as though they'd been dipped in ink. There were many large books on the shelves and several newspapers, but there was something different about them, the pictures would move.  
  
Ruby often pleaded with Brent to introduce Alexia to the wizarding world and this would lead to a very long argument. Ruby would argue until her jaw was sore but Brent always put his foot down.  
  
"If she is born without magical powers, then do you know how disappointing it will be? She'll be crushed," said Brent.  
  
"But she needs to know," insisted Ruby.  
  
"No Mother," Brent said firmly, "She'll find out in due time. She is not allowed in my study ever, either. Do you understand?"  
  
Ruby agreed but at times she would often leave the door to Brent's study unlocked, in hopes that Alexia would stumble inside.  
  
She had stumbled into the room, only once when she was about 6 years old. She wondered what kind of room this was, but was afraid to ask, due to the fact she had snuck in. It was starting to bother her that the older she got, the weirder her family acted around her. They would avoid subjects, talk in whispers, and Gavin, Brent and Ruby would spend nights in the study that was locked. She always wondered what they were talking, but one night she found out.  
  
Late one night during late July, when Alexia was eleven-years-old, she heard Brent and Ruby talking as they sat in the kitchen talking.  
  
"She should have gotten it by now," said Brent.  
  
"Brent, relax," said the old voice of Ruby, "She'll get it soon enough."  
  
"But what if she doesn't?" asked Brent, looking very worried.  
  
Ruby put her hand on her son's shoulder.  
  
"Don't worry," she said, "The letter will come. She has the gift."  
  
Alexia sat there, listening. At hearing this she was confused. Who was waiting for a letter? She retreated to her room, where she sat on her bed thinking. She was rather tall for her age, with short, choppy red and blond hair. Her green eyes gazed up at the sky and the moon lit up her pale face. She sat on the window seat of a large window that faced the distant city of London. She looked up and saw the full moon that hung high above the city. She sighed and looked back at Big Ben and the lights of the city. She listened to the hooting of the owls in the nearby trees. She could hear the mumbling of her Father and Grandmother. Her Father had been on edge for a while, and it bother Alexia, because he refused to tell her what was bothering him. Alexia sighed and suddenly heard the rustling of wings. She looked up to see a large barn owl flying towards her. She tumbled backwards into the room and the owl landed on the window seat.  
  
At first all Alexia could do was stare at the owl, but soon she saw a letter attached to his leg that bore her name. She stood up and took the letter from the owl, which immediately flew off. The letter was made of very thick parchment and bore a strange seal on the back. She didn't know what to do, so she headed for the door to her room.  
  
She walked out into the dark and empty hallway and looked around. Her Father and Grandmother were still downstairs. She walked towards the stairs but instead knocked at the door on the very top of the stairs.  
  
"Gav?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah?" answered a deep smooth voice.  
  
"Can I ask you something?' Alexia asked.  
  
The door open and there stood her brother Gavin, now twenty-one and very handsome. He had long, spikey dark brown hair, tan skin, and bright blue eyes. He was very strong and tall, and had a kind face.  
  
He smiled at Alexia as she stood there, holding the letter.  
  
"What's up squirt?" asked Gavin.  
  
Alexia handed him the letter and Gavin's eyes widened.  
  
"I just got this," she said, sounding confused, "From an owl."  
  
"Lex. . ." he gasped, "This is great!"  
  
He hugged her and carried her downstairs.  
  
"Dad! Grandma! Look at this!" yelled Gavin.  
  
They rushed over, looking very excited. Alexia laughed a little, it was a lot of fuss for some stupid letter. Her Father ripped open the letter and read it.  
  
"Dear Ms. Alexia Malfoy," he read, "We are very pleased to announce and you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"  
  
Brent smiled from ear to ear at his daughter and hugged her tightly. Alexia was very confused. Her grandmother hugged her too, and they all started talking loudly, but Alexia silenced them.  
  
"STOP!" she yelled.  
  
Gavin looked at her and smiled.  
  
"What is this all about?" asked Alexia, sounding a bit angrier than she intended.  
  
Her Father picked her up and smiled.  
  
"You, my child," he said, "Are going to go to Hogwarts to learn to be a witch!"  
  
Alexia stared blankly at her Father and started to laugh.  
  
"Very funny, Dad," she said, "But seriously."  
  
By the looks on their faces that was exactly what they were being, serious. They didn't seem to think this was a joke at all.  
  
"Lemme show you something," said Brent.  
  
They took her upstairs to Brent's office. Inside it held so many strange and magical objects that Alexia's mind was swimming. She looked down and stared at the letter she was holding.  
  
"This is a Wizard's study," said Brent, "That owl is Antony, it's how we send messages."  
  
Brent went through all the contents of the room and even showed Alexia his broom, the Comet 79. It was very beaten and old, but Alexia couldn't believe what she was hearing.  
  
"So, I'm a witch," she said.  
  
Her Father nodded.  
  
"And, I'm going to go off to school to learn magic?" she asked, her voice full of disbelief.  
  
They all nodded. Ruby looked near tears and Gavin seemed very proud.  
  
"I don't buy this," she said, shaking her head and walking from the room.  
  
She headed downstairs and looked at the letter again. Suddenly the phone rang.  
  
Who in their right mind would be calling now? Thought Alexia, It's nearly 10 o'clock.  
  
"Hello, Malfoy residence," muttered Alexia.  
  
"Lex!" yelled the voice on the other end.  
  
"Linnea?" asked Alexia, "Oh my, how are you?"  
  
Linnea was a very good friend of Alexia's. They had gone to primary school together for 5 years.  
  
"Fine," said Linnea, "And you?"  
  
"Okay, I suppose," she said in an off hand sort of way, "My Dad is trying to play this big joke on me right now. He trained an owl to send me a letter that said I was going to go to a school for witches and wizards, I mean how dense do they think I am?"  
  
Alexia laughed, but instead of a laugh from the other end there was silence.  
  
"Um. . . Lex," stammered Linnea, "I got that letter too. . . "  
  
Alexia stopped. Their parents couldn't be in on this together, they had never met.  
  
"You don't think. . ." started Alexia.  
  
"What?" asked Linnea, "That the place is real? That this isn't a joke?"  
  
"Yeah," muttered Alexia.  
  
"Well I dunno, Lex," said Linnea, "I mean. . .it could be. . ."  
  
"Well what do you reckon?" asked Alexia, "Should we go for this?"  
  
"Somehow I don't think my parents would play this kind of joke on me," said Linnea, "I think it's real."  
  
Alexia sighed and looked at the letter, could it be true? Could she really a be a witch?  
  
"Alright," she said.  
  
Just then her Father entered the room. Alexia looked at him, his face filled with worry and concern.  
  
"Alexia," he said, "Say good-bye, we need to talk,"  
  
Alexia said good-bye to Linnea and sat down at the table with her Father. He rubbed his eyes and looked at her. She never realized how old he looked until just now.  
  
"I think this is a matter you need to take seriously," he said, "Now just listen to me, okay?"  
  
Alexia nodded and her Father sighed, cleared his throat, and began.  
  
"Now, your Mother does come from a very long line of non-magical people, but I am the opposite," said her Father, "I come from a very long line of wizards and witches. My grandfather hated your grandmother, because she was a muggle born. . ."  
  
"A what?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Um. . .a muggle born is someone born of non-magical people. . .Muggles," said her Father, "That is where the 'purity' of the Malfoy name started to deteriorate. . ."  
  
Her father told her about how the family sort of broke apart after Chaz and Ruby got married and why they never really did anything with Dad's brothers and sisters. By the time he was done speaking, Alexia was staring blankly at the floor, not know what to think.  
  
"So. . ." she hesitated, "I am a witch."  
  
Her father nodded.  
  
"But, how come you never told me?" asked Alexia.  
  
"That's not important," said her Father, "What is important is that you are a witch, and we need to prepare you for school."  
  
"Well where are we gunna go?" asked Alexia, who had just scanned the list, "I've never seen some of this stuff before."  
  
The list had everything from black robes to sloth brains.  
  
"London of course!" said her Father.  
  
"London?" asked Alexia, "They have this stuff?"  
  
Her Father nodded and smiled.  
  
"We'll go tomorrow and you'll see things you've never dreamed of," said her Father.  
  
He was about to leave the kitchen, but Alexia stopped him. She had a look on her face that told her Father there was something else.  
  
"What's wrong Lex?" he asked.  
  
"Well. . ." she started, "Linnea got a letter too. . ."  
  
"Linnea got a letter?" asked her Father, sounding rather shocked, "Really?"  
  
"And her parents weren't too happy about it," said Alexia, "So. . ."  
  
"You wanted to know if she could come with us," said her Father, finishing her sentence.  
  
Alexia nodded and her Father smiled.  
  
"Of course she can come!" he said, hugging her, "Call her right now."  
  
Alexia ran to the phone and quickly dialed Linnea's number. Her Father answered the phone, sounding rather disgruntled.  
  
"Hello?" he asked; his gruff voice sounded sleepy and annoyed.  
  
"Hi, may I speak to Linnea please?" asked Alexia politely.  
  
Linnea's Father handed over the phone without a word. Alexia heard Linnea's voice, but it was just a whisper.  
  
"Hello?" she mumbled.  
  
"Linnea, it's Lex," said Alexia, "It's all true!"  
  
"What!" gasped Linnea.  
  
"My dad told me," Alexia explained, "It's all true! We get to go to wizard school!"  
  
Linnea was speechless, she could only stammer and mutter meaningless phrases.  
  
"We're going to London tomorrow to get our things," said Alexia, "Wanna come with?"  
  
"Let me check," said Linnea managed to say.  
  
Alexia tried to hear Linnea's conversation with her Mother. As hard as she tried she couldn't understand what they were saying. Linnea finally picked up the phone.  
  
"Yeah," she said, "But would your Dad be able to take me."  
  
Alexia understood why. Her parents didn't want her to go to Hogwarts, they didn't want to accept the fact that she was magical.  
  
"Yeah," Alexia said shortly.  
  
"Awesome," said Linnea, "But I gotta go."  
  
"Okay," said Alexia, "See you tomorrow around 11?"  
  
"See you then," said Linnea.  
  
Alexia hung up the phone and turned to her dad.  
  
"We have to pick her up by 11 o'clock tomorrow," she said.  
  
Her Father nodded.  
  
"Alright," he said, "Then you should get to sleep."  
  
Alexia glanced at the clock and noticed it was almost midnight, and suddenly she felt very sleepy. She followed her Father up the stairs and he hugged her.  
  
"See you in the morning," he said, kissing her check.  
  
Alexia got ready for bed, but couldn't sleep. She got up and walked into Gavin's room, where he sat awake, writing a letter.  
  
"Hi Gav," she said softly.  
  
Gavin spun around in his chair and smiled at his little sister.  
  
"Hey short stuff," he said, "What are you doing up?"  
  
"Can't sleep," she said flatly.  
  
Gavin nodded and smiled at her.  
  
"So you're going to Hogwarts," he said.  
  
Alexia couldn't help but grin as she sat on his bed.  
  
"Ya know," he said, sitting next to her, "Mum prayed this day would never come."  
  
Alexia gave him a confused look.  
  
"Why?" she asked, "I come from a long line of wizards don't I?"  
  
Gavin shrugged.  
  
"Well. . . kind of sort of," he said, "But Mum was a pure blood muggle, never had any magical relatives as far as I know."  
  
"Is that why she left Dad?" asked Alexia.  
  
Gavin shook his head, his brown bangs falling over his eyes.  
  
"Mum and Dad separated for reasons even I don't know," he said, "Dad knew that for us to grow up normally they'd have to separate."  
  
Alexia hugged Gavin and looked at a picture on his desk. It was very old and had a picture of two tall, blond haired men. Alexia picked up the picture and looked at Gavin.  
  
"Who's that with Grandpa?" she asked.  
  
"That's great grandpa Draco," said Gavin.  
  
"You ever met him?" asked Alexia.  
  
Gavin nodded.  
  
"Yeah, a couple times. . . you've met him too, but you were too young to remember," he said, "I actually dunno where he is right now. He wasn't very friendly all the time either. Hates half bloods."  
  
"Were Grandma and Grandpa magical?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Yep," said Gavin. He turned and smiled at her, "You'll find our family, Dad's side anyway, is full of witches and wizards."  
  
Alexia yawned and started to rub her eyes and Gavin smiled at her.  
  
"Go to sleep, Lex," he said, "Ya got a big day ahead of ya,"  
  
Alexia stumbled back to her room and looked around. Suddenly a lot of the stuff seemed very odd and simple. There was a picture of her, Gavin, and her Mum and Dad sitting in front of the fireplace. She hadn't been more than three when this picture was taken. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at the picture. Her Mother had been the corner stone during her first few years of life, but now she was completely gone. Alexia had always relied on Linnea, or her Aunt Jean (who wasn't really her Aunt was a very good friend of the family) to have those certain girl talks that are so important someone's life.  
  
Alexia flopped back on her bed and sighed, watching the stars. Her life had changed completely, this morning she could've have sworn she was a normal kid, but now, now she was going to a school to learn magic, a school where her life would change. 


	3. A Whole New World

Chapter Two  
  
A Whole New World  
  
The next morning Mr. Malfoy woke Alexia up around 9 o'clock. Needless to say it took a very long time for her to get out of bed. By the time she came staggering down the stairs, it was nearly 9:30, and her Grandmother already had breakfast on the table. She was humming happily as Alexia plopped in her seat.  
  
"Good morning," said Ruby, in a very singsong type way.  
  
"Morning," grunted Alexia, taking a bit out of her sausage.  
  
"Today is a big day," said Ruby, "Today you become a witch."  
  
Alexia smiled and her Grandmother told her all about the times she had had at Hogwarts. Alexia had never known that her grandparents had met at school. Alexia soon finished her breakfast and got ready to leave. She pulled on a short sleeved blue T-shirt, a pair of baggy khakis and put a cord necklace on. On the pendant was a symbol is Japanese which stood for bravery. It was given to her when she was four, just after her Mum left. Her Father had given it to her telling her that as long as she had that necklace, she would be brave.  
  
Alexia sat on her bed, writing in her journal. She had never been too good with speaking, but somehow she was able to write everything else out and make her statement clear. She closed the book and heard a voice calling her.  
  
"Alexia!" yelled Gavin, "Let's go!"  
  
She sat up and dashed down the stairs. Soon they were in the car and on their way to Linnea's house.  
  
They reached her house after about fifteen minutes of driving and Alexia ran to the door. It opened and there stood Linnea. She smiled and hugged Alexia.  
  
"LEX!" she yelled.  
  
Linnea was a little taller than Alexia, with long brown hair with blond highlights, which was always back in a ponytail. She had brown eyes and tan skin.  
  
Alexia smiled and they got into the car. They chatted excitedly and finally they reached a small run down pub, that Alexia had hardly noticed.  
  
"What is this place?' Alexia asked.  
  
"This is the Leaky Cauldron," said Gavin, "C'mon."  
  
They wandered inside and found it was very dark and crowded. Mr. Malfoy greeted the bartender and they made their way right out the back door. Alexia gave Linnea a confused look.  
  
"What are we doing?" she asked.  
  
Linnea shrugged and Alexia watched as her Father tapped a few of the bricks and suddenly the bricks started to separate and a large opening appeared.  
  
"This, is Diagon Alley," said Mr. Malfoy.  
  
Alexia and Linnea's eyes went wide with wonder. They had never seen such a place. The tiny alley was long and cramped with stores and people. Many looked about their age, but there also a lot of adults. They wandered past a store called Quality Quidditch Supplies and Alexia noticed a broom hanging in the window.  
  
"Gavin," said Alexia, "What's that?"  
  
"Quidditch?" asked Gavin, seeing the broom, "It's a very popular wizard sport. I'll explain later."  
  
They made their way to a very large white building at the end of the alley, and walked inside.  
  
"This is Gringotts, wizard bank," said her Father, "This is where we get our money."  
  
"And that is where I work," said Gavin, grinning.  
  
Linnea exchanged her Muggle money for a bag full of gold, silver and copper coins, while Alexia's father showed her a vault filled with money.  
  
"This is all yours," he said, "But you have to be careful with it, it has to last a while."  
  
Soon they were back in Diagon Alley, eager to get their things. They went straight to Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions so they could get their uniforms. Gavin talked with Madame Malkin as she measured the girls.  
  
"So what have you been up to Gavin?" asked Madame Malkin as she searched for the robes in the girls sizes.  
  
"Mostly working from home," said Gavin, "I'll go to Gringotts when they need me, but they usually don't need me so I stay at home."  
  
"And watch you lovely sister here?" asked Madame Malkin.  
  
"Yeah," said Gavin, smiling, "But since she's going off to Hogwarts I might start going to the bank more often, actually doing more than just paper work."  
  
Linnea looked at Alexia and rolled her eyes. She felt the same way, very bored. Thankfully Madame Malkin chose this moment to walk off and get their robes. After a few minutes, she returned and handed the bundles to Mr. Malfoy.  
  
"There you are," she said.  
  
They paid for their robes and quickly left. Next they went to the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts. They had never seen books like these before. The pictures moved, and some had very odd names. Alexia and Linnea roamed around the store, picking up random books and looking at them while her Father bought the ones they needed. Alexia wandered around a section filled with books that were very large. She picked up one book, which was rather thick and read across the side in Golden writing The Young Wizards Guide to Magic. Alexia kept wandering around until she found Linnea, who was sitting in the corner of the book section "Quidditch". The books were fascinating. People flying through the air, whizzing about, throwing balls back and forth. Alexia noticed the name on the book Linnea was read "Quidditch through the Ages". Alexia grabbed two copies, pulled Linnea by the hand, and ran to her Father.  
  
"Dad," she said, "Can we get these?"  
  
"Lex, I don't have enough money for that too," hissed Linnea.  
  
"Don't worry about it!" hissed Alexia back.  
  
Her Father picked up the book and smiled.  
  
"Sure thing," he said.  
  
They left Flourish and Blotts with all their books and headed to get a cauldron, set of scales, and a brass telescope. They then went to the Apothecary shop, where they filled up on potion ingredients. Alexia checked her list once more and saw the only thing left was for her to get her wand. So they headed to Ollivanders, where an old wizard helped them.  
  
"Ah, Brent Malfoy, how are you?" asked Mr. Ollivander as they entered the shop.  
  
"Very well," said Brent, "You?"  
  
"Can't complain, can't complain," said Mr. Ollivander, "Business is very good now that the Hogwarts students will be going back soon."  
  
Alexia fought down a laugh. The tiny store was completely empty other than loads of boxes and of course Mr. Ollivander himself. She hardly thought business was very good.  
  
"And Gavin," said Mr. Ollivander, "I remember when you came in for your wand, chestnut, 13 ½ inches, with a core of dragon heartstring."  
  
Gavin smiled and pulled his wand from his pocket.  
  
"Kept it safe," he said smiling.  
  
Ollivander nodded and turned to Linnea and Alexia, who both looked rather frightened.  
  
"This must be you daughter, Alexia," said Ollivander, "First year, my dear?"  
  
"Yes sir," stammered Alexia, trying not to sound frightened.  
  
He nodded and looked at Linnea.  
  
"Ah, Linnea Huse," he said, "First of your family to be going to Hogwarts I believe."  
  
Linnea shrugged.  
  
"I don't know sir," she said.  
  
Ollivander started taking measurements and then He handed Alexia her first wand.  
  
"Give it a wave," he said.  
  
She waved it and several boxes went flying off the shelves. Gavin pulled out his wand and replaced the boxes. It went like this for what seemed like an hour, until finally Mr. Ollivander pulled a wand from a box very high upon the shelf.  
  
"9 ½ inches, Holly with a core of hair from a Chimaera's Mane," said Mr. Ollivander.  
  
Alexia waved the wand and it sparked brightly. They applauded and Alexia looked at him.  
  
"Interesting." he said, "Many of the Malfoys, before you father, had very rare wands, like this one."  
  
It took Linnea less than ten minutes to find her wand, and it was 8 ¾ inches, redwood with the core of a phoenix feather.  
  
After they were done in Ollivanders, Alexia and Linnea were allowed to wander alone through Diagon Alley. They saw many different places, but the one they found most interesting was the joke shop. The name on the front read Gambol and Japes and they decided to go ahead and check it out. Inside were many items that made their jaws hit the floor.  
  
Alexia and Linnea had always been troublemakers in primary school, so this place was a dream come true. The walls were packed with tons of gags that would have driven anyone up the wall. As they looked around Alexia accidentally ran into someone. The girl scrambled to her feet and Alexia looked up.  
  
The girl was rather tall with long red, curly hair and green eyes. She was holding some stink pellets in her hands and looked down at Alexia.  
  
"Sorry," muttered Alexia.  
  
The girl smiled and helped Alexia to her feet.  
  
"Don't worry about it," said the girl.  
  
Alexia noticed a shorter girl with long brown hair and brown eyes. She was holding a large box that had pictures of children who looked as though they had grown feathers. The two girls grinned.  
  
"First time in Diagon Alley?" asked the one with brown hair.  
  
Alexia nodded.  
  
"Yeah," she said, "I'm Alexia Malfoy, this is Linnea Huse."  
  
"I'm Breena Brightheart," said the girl with the red hair, "That's Hari Granger,"  
  
The brown haired girl smiled and they started to talk. They left the joke shop, and wandered down to the Magical Menagerie where Alexia saw a very cute orange tabby cat in the window. She had always wanted a cat, ever since she was little, but she couldn't, they were too much work.  
  
They made their way down to the ice cream parlor and Alexia saw her Father and Gavin sitting outside. It was nearly six o'clock by this time and they had to leave.  
  
"See you on the train?" asked Breena as she walked away.  
  
"Yeah!" said Alexia as they entered the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
Linnea's parents allowed her to stay with the Malfoys for the remaining three weeks until the Hogwarts Express arrived. They fell asleep that night, their heads spinning and full of joy. 


	4. First Impressions

Chapter Three First Impressions  
  
The weeks went by too quickly and soon they were heading to Kings Cross Station to catch the train for school. Alexia and Linnea were crammed in the back of the car, both too excited to say anything. They reached the station and Alexia loaded her trolley and they headed into the station.  
  
It was fairly empty, and Alexia watched as her Father led them to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Alexia watched as Gavin walked over and leaned against it, and fell through. Alexia followed her Father and found that beyond the barrier was platform ¾ and the scarlet Hogwarts Express. Alexia walked towards the train and they got situated. They said their good- byes but before Alexia got on the train, her Father handed her a wicker basket.  
  
"Open it on the train," he said, kissing her forehead.  
  
She climbed into the compartment Linnea had picked out and opened the basket. In it sat the kitten that she had seen in Diagon Alley. She smiled and hugged it tightly. As the train started to move she waved out the window, and they were on their way.  
  
Linnea sat quietly in the corner, looking at London as it faded from view and Alexia smiled.  
  
"Excited?" she asked.  
  
Linnea shrugged, something told Alexia she was a little apprehensive about this whole thing. They started to talk when there was a knock on the door. Alexia slid it open and there stood Breena and Hari.  
  
"Hey girls!" said Breena.  
  
Breena and Hari set down their things and they began to talk. Hari was a muggle born, like Linnea, but had known Breena since they had gone to primary school. Breena, on the other hand, was a pureblood, and very smart. She came from a very long line of wizards, and knew a lot about magic.  
  
They talked for quiet a while, until the door suddenly slid open and there stood a tall girl with black hair that fell down to about her shoulders, and blue eyes. She had very fair skin and a sporty build.  
  
"Oh, compartments already taken?" asked the girl, looking around.  
  
"Yeah," said Breena, "Sorry."  
  
"All of you first years?" asked the girl.  
  
They nodded. The girl leaned against the door and looked at Breena.  
  
"You must be Breena Brightheart," she said.  
  
"Uh.yeah," said Breena, "And you are?"  
  
"Ashlee Sully," she said, "My brother went to school with yours."  
  
"Oh," said Breena, "Well nice to meet you Ashlee."  
  
"And these are your friends?" asked Ashlee, raising what looked like a disapproving eyebrow.  
  
Her gaze shifted to Linnea, who did look as though she didn't belong due to the fact she was reading a muggle magazine.  
  
"That's Linnea Huse, this is Hari Granger, and that's Alexia Malfoy," said Breena, introducing them one by one.  
  
Ashlee's eyes shifted to Alexia.  
  
"Malfoy?" she asked.  
  
Alexia nodded and a smile crept across Ashlee's face.  
  
"Draco Malfoy any relation?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, my great grandfather," said Alexia, "Why?"  
  
"Really?" asked Ashlee, "So you'll be in Slytherin then?"  
  
Alexia looked confused.  
  
"Slytherin?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Of course you know all about Slytherin," said Ashlee, "Your Father was in there wasn't he?"  
  
"Er." said Alexia, but she didn't have time to answer.  
  
"What about you three?" asked Ashlee, turning to the others.  
  
"I think either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff," said Hari.  
  
Ashlee snorted shortly and quickly stopped, noticing the glare she got from Breena.  
  
"Ravenclaw," said Breena, "Maybe Gryffindor."  
  
Linnea remained silent but Ashlee didn't seem to notice. Suddenly two other girls appeared behind her, and started talking very quickly. The one was very tall and slim with shoulder length, dark blond hair. She had gray eyes, which seemed to hold no expression. She looked very bored to say the least. The other girl was a little shorter than the first. She had long, black hair and dark brown eyes. She was wearing all black and had her ears pierced a few times. She glared at those sitting in the car and then they left, slamming the door behind them.  
  
Alexia looked at Breena, who was shaking her head. Linnea had lowered her magazine and looked as though she would burst into tears at any second. Hari turned to Breena with a very angry look on her face.  
  
"What is it with those kind of people?" she said, sounding annoyed, "They always have noses where they don't belong."  
  
"Hari, relax," said Breena, "Just ignore them, they're not worth the trouble."  
  
"But they always think they're so much better than everyone else," said Hari, "Bet they will be in Slytherin."  
  
"What did she mean about different houses?" asked Linnea very quietly.  
  
"Well there are four of them," said Hari, "Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin."  
  
"Each house has it's own characteristics and such," said Breena, "It's not a big deal."  
  
"But what if we all get separated?" asked Linnea.  
  
"We don't know anyone else," said Alexia.  
  
Breena smiled.  
  
"I know a lot of different people," she said, "Trust me, you'll find some friends."  
  
Alexia nodded, but somehow she didn't feel reassured. If it was known that the Malfoys had a history of being is Slytherin, would she follow that? 


	5. New Friends and New Enemies

Chapter Four  
  
New Friends and New Enemies  
  
By the time the train slowed down the skies were inky black and all the students were in their robes. They filed off the train and followed a very large man to a bunch of boats at the edge of a lake. They moved like magic and soon they were inside the castle, waiting to enter the Great Hall. A female witch wearing a pointy black hat soon approached them.  
  
"Hello, first years," she said, "Welcome to Hogwarts. Now before we go into the Great Hall, there are some things that you must know. The sorting ceremony will take place shortly. You will be sorted into one of four houses. They are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. These houses will become your homes and you will earn points by your accomplishments and lose them by your mistakes."  
  
The doors into the Great Hall opened and they walked inside. There were hundreds of students sitting at tables lined up in the Great Hall. Alexia noticed that the ceiling didn't seem to end, and wondered why, until Breena whispered in her ear.  
  
"It's enchanted," she mumbles, "Wicked, eh?"  
  
Alexia was in awe of everything around her. She didn't know what to say. Suddenly the group of first years came to a halt, and Alexia could see McGonagall pull out a three legged stool and set a dirty old hat on it.  
  
"What's that for?' asked Linnea.  
  
"Dunno," mumbled Alexia.  
  
Suddenly, the hat started to sing.  
  
So Many choices,  
  
In life you must make,  
  
Pick the right road,  
  
The right path to take,  
  
You'll need some how to pick this path,  
  
Try me on,  
  
I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,  
  
I'll put you where you ought to be,  
  
And soon you'll see,  
  
I'm more than a hat,  
  
I'm a busy bee,  
  
You may belong is Ravenclaw,  
  
Where there are lots of brains,  
  
Always gaining knowledge,  
  
Their love for knowledge is plain,  
  
Or Gryffindor could be your home,  
  
Where they show bravery,  
  
Or Hufflepuff where stay the true,  
  
And work they are unafraid to do  
  
They are loyal friends and are very true.  
  
Or Slytherin where you'll find true friends,  
  
They'll do what it takes,  
  
And fight hard to win in the end.  
  
So try me on,  
  
Please don't be shy,  
  
And let me take a peak inside,  
  
I promise I'll place you right,  
  
So hold on tight,  
  
Hold your breath,  
  
It won't mean your death,  
  
I'll place you in your home,  
  
Where you will never be alone.  
  
The hall broke into cheers as the hat finished its song and McGonagall pulled out a large scroll and started to call off names.  
  
"Thorne, Piper," she said.  
  
A girl who was rather small with long brown hair crept through the crowd and approached the stool. She plopped down and the hat slipped over her eyes. It took at least a half an hour until the hat spoke.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" it yelled.  
  
Piper pulled the hat off and ran to the Gryffindor table. Her ears were very red and she looked very embarrassed. Alexia and Linnea looked at each other as "Granger, Angharad" was called to be sorted.  
  
"Must be related to Hari." Linnea started to say but they watched as Hari made her way towards the sorting hat.  
  
It was less than a minute before the hat yelled out.  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
Hari smiled and took off the hat. She smiled at the others and sat down at the table.  
  
"Huse, Linnea," said McGonagall.  
  
Linnea froze and didn't move until Alexia elbowed her in the ribs. Linnea looked at saw McGonagall watching her.  
  
"Ms. Huse, if you please," said McGonagall.  
  
Alexia could hear Ashlee laughing from behind her. Linnea trembled as she sat on the bench and pulled on the hat. It was about two minutes and then the hat yelled out the result.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
Linnea had gone crimson and dashed to the table. Alexia's stomach dropped, she was starting to think that maybe she wasn't going to be with Linnea or Breena or Hari.  
  
"Sully, Ashlee,"  
  
Ashlee moved through the crowd with her head held high. She sat down and the hat barely touched her head when it shouted out "SLYTHERIN!" She moved happily to her seat. Alexia gulped and Breena nudged her.  
  
"Don't be so nervous," she whispered, "It's not life or death."  
  
"Ha, ha," mocked Alexia, "Very funny."  
  
Just then McGonagall called "Brightheart, Breena," and she smiled at Alexia.  
  
"See ya on the other side," she said.  
  
She walked up and pulled on the hat. After a few seconds it shouted out "RAVENCLAW!" and Alexia took her seat next to Hari.  
  
A different girl moved next to Alexia, and she looked very nervous. Several students where sorted into all the houses, but the girl was shaking next to her.  
  
"You okay?" whispered Alexia.  
  
She came up to Alexia's chin and had long brown hair and hazel eyes. She grinned at Alexia, and her eyes looked terrified.  
  
"I'm Alexia Malfoy," she whispered, as Hanna Dove was sorted into Ravenclaw.  
  
The girl shook Alexia's hand and squeaked.  
  
"I'm Lorelei Aiden," she said.  
  
"Delacour, Parvati" was sorted into Hufflepuff and so was "Black, Verity". "Shadowboxer, Jamie" was sorted into Gryffindor as well as "Chambers, Eleanor". "Hatter, Daniel' was sorted into Ravenclaw and "Sylverdarkness, Hades" was called up.  
  
This was one of the girls who had been with Ashlee on the train. She glared at Alexia and pulled the hat over her head.  
  
"SLYTHERIN!" it yelled almost instantaneous.  
  
"Sandyford, Jemima" was also sorted into Slytherin and she sat next to Ashlee and Hades. Alexia was starting to feel nervous. It was only a few of them left now.  
  
"Malfoy, Alexia," said McGonagall.  
  
The hall hushed and Alexia looked around. Lorelei gave her a slight nudge and she walked up to the stood. She noticed a tall man with greasy black hair watching her, very intently. She walked over and sat down and pulled the hat over her head. Suddenly a tiny voice started to speak inside her head.  
  
"Let's see. Very loyal, and smart, very smart. Eager to work." it said, "Not afraid of danger either I see.but you also want to prove yourself, but where to put you? I think I know."  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.  
  
Alexia's eyes flew open and the hall erupted with cheers. Alexia grinned and walked over to the table, where another Hufflepuff first year made room for her.  
  
"Hi," said the girl. She was a little taller than Alexia, with shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes.  
  
"Hi," said Alexia breathlessly.  
  
"I'm Parvati," said the girl.  
  
"Alexia," she said.  
  
There were only two left and both "Aiden, Lorelei" and "von Lehn, Venefica" were sorted into Hufflepuff. Venefica was about Lorelei's height with brown hair as well, brown eyes which were covered by glasses. They sat across the table from Parvati and Alexia. The hall filled with silence as a tall wizard with a long white beard stood up.  
  
Alexia had seen this man before, but she had never really known who he was. He had always visited their house, dressed in normal clothes, and for a while he had become like a grandfather to Alexia and Gavin. They loved him and he loved to spend time with them. But he was the headmaster of Hogwarts, very old, but still very much alive. He was Albus Dumbledore. "Welcome to all of you and to another year," he said, "Please remember that the third floor corridor and the forbidden forest are out of bounds. Enjoy the feast."  
  
He clapped his hands and the tables filled with food. Parvati and the others dug in, but Alexia was staring across the hall at Linnea, who was sitting at the Gryffindor table. She was worried about her, because Linnea had always been rather shy at first. But she smiled when she saw her talking to a short little girl who had been sorted first. Linnea looked very happy and Alexia soon noticed Parvati looking at her.  
  
"What?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Didn't you hear me?" she asked.  
  
Alexia shook her head and the others laughed slightly.  
  
"I was just saying that you're a Malfoy, and you're in Hufflepuff," said Parvati, "According to what is known about Malfoys they aren't normally in Hufflepuff, they usually end up in Slytherin."  
  
Alexia's stomach dropped and she got very nervous.  
  
"Well, to be honest, I don't know to much about my family," she said, "I didn't know I was a witch until I received my letter."  
  
"What house was your Dad in?" asked Venefica.  
  
Alexia froze. She hadn't actually thought or asked her Father about that.  
  
"Well.I.." She stammered.  
  
"Your Father was in Hufflepuff," said Venefica.  
  
The three of them looked at her and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"How would you know?" asked Alexia, sounding thoroughly confused.  
  
"Well, you're Dad is Brent Malfoy, isn't he?" she asked.  
  
Alexia nodded.  
  
"He was friends with my Mum," she said, "They were both in Hufflepuff, as well as my Father."  
  
The girls thoroughly enjoyed the feast but once everyone started to leave, Alexia ran over to Linnea, who was still talking to the small brown haired girl.  
  
"Linnea!" yelled Alexia.  
  
"Lex!" she yelled, "Lex, this is so wonderful!"  
  
Alexia laughed and smiled at the other girl.  
  
"Hi," she said, "I'm Alexia,"  
  
"Piper," said the girl, "Nice to meet ya,"  
  
Suddenly someone pounced on Alexia's shoulders and squealed in her ears. She turned and saw Hari and Breena standing there.  
  
"Hufflepuff!" yelled Hari, "Awesome. Least you're not in Slytherin, bet that really bent Ashlee out of shape."  
  
Just then Ashlee, Hades and Jemima walked past. Ashlee stopped and looked at Breena.  
  
"Obvious and the brainy people got put in Ravenclaw, and the snobs," she said, glancing at Hari, "Course, mudbloods always got to Gryffindor, such a shame."  
  
Linnea looked confused, but Piper looked very offended.  
  
"You can't just go around saying that!" she yelled.  
  
"Are you going to stop me?" asked Ashlee.  
  
Piper backed down, and Breena grabbed Ashlee by the shoulder.  
  
"Leave her alone," Breena growled.  
  
"You're going to stop me Brightheart?" Ashlee laughed, "Not likely, if you had half as much courage as you do brains, you'd be in Gryffindor."  
  
"SHUT UP!" yelled Alexia.  
  
Hades's and Jemima's attention moved to Alexia, who was standing next to Hari.  
  
"Well, well, well," said Hades, "Alexia Malfoy, right?"  
  
Alexia looked at them, her face full of anger.  
  
"Just because you're in Slytherin doesn't mean you're better than the rest of the school," barked Alexia, "You're not better than us."  
  
Ashlee swept between the two and got face to face with Alexia.  
  
"Well, if it isn't the Malfoy who went wrong," he said, "It's pathetic, really, a Malfoy in Hufflepuff, crime against nature."  
  
"My Father was in Hufflepuff!" shouted Alexia.  
  
Linnea looked around and saw that Professor Dumbledore was watching them.  
  
"You are a disgrace to the name you carry," said Ashlee, "And you hang around with mudbloods."  
  
Breena was starting to get angry, and so was Hari. But suddenly a very soothing voice came from behind them.  
  
"I trust there in no problem here, ladies?" said the man.  
  
They turned to see Dumbledore standing right behind them. Ashlee's eyes flicked up towards him then down quickly.  
  
"No problem," said Ashlee, quickly walking away.  
  
Dumbledore smiled as the other students left, but he set his hand on Alexia's shoulder.  
  
"If I may have a word?" he asked.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"I don't know if you remember." he started.  
  
"I do remember you," she said, "You always came to the house to see Grandma."  
  
Dumbledore smiled and nodded.  
  
"Indeed," he said, "I just want to tell you that if there is something you need, you can feel free to come see me. My door is always open."  
  
Alexia nodded and thanked him. She then ran out the door of the Great Hall, where she saw the Hufflepuffs heading to the common room. The Prefect who stood in front turned to the others.  
  
"The password," he said, "Is 'chizmane'. Don't forget!"  
  
They all filed into the common room, which was filled with beautiful black leather furniture and the walls were painted a soft yellow. The Prefect pointed them up a staircase and told them this would be their dorm room. They went up and found five four posters that all had black satin sheets. Alexia found her stuff in front of a bed that was near the window. Alexia looked around and smiled. Parvati's bed was to her left, and Lorelei's was to her right as she sat on the bed.  
  
"So this is home," said Venefica.  
  
Alexia nodded and looked inside her trunk. She pulled out several picture frames from it and set them on her bedside table. Parvati walked over and started to play with Ami, who was sitting on Alexia's bed. She glanced at the picture of Alexia, her Dad, Brother and Grandmother.  
  
"Is this your family?" asked Parvati as Venefica walked over to see.  
  
"Yeah," said Alexia, as she pulled out two more pictures.  
  
"Where's your Mum?" asked Venefica.  
  
Lorelei sat on her bed and Alexia sat on her closed trunk.  
  
"My Mum and Dad got divorced when I was like 4," she said, "She didn't even come for my 4th birthday."  
  
"How old is your brother?" asked Lorelei, looking at one of the pictures.  
  
"21," said Alexia, "He works for Gringotts bank."  
  
They talked all night about their families. Lorelei was a half blood and had a brother who was the same age as Gavin. Lorelei was pretty sure that they had gone to school together. Venefica was a muggle born and had three siblings, a brother and twin sisters. Parvati's parents were a pure blood and a half blood and she had two older sisters. Verity was a very quiet girl, and she really didn't tell them much. She basically said that she grew up in foster care her entire life and never knew her father.  
  
At about 2 am, Alexia closed the hangings on her bed and lay down. She stared up at the ceiling and sighed. She was in a new place, with new people, and yet somehow, she wasn't afraid. This would be a very excellent adventure. 


	6. The First Day

Chapter Five  
  
First Day  
  
It felt as though Alexia had just laid her head down when suddenly Parvati pulled open the hangings on her bed. The light was so bright that Alexia first thought she was dreaming, but Parvati soon had nearly dragged Alexia from the bed. She stood up and rubbed her eyes. It was way too early to be up. She yawned as she got dressed and her, Parvati and Lorelei headed down for breakfast.  
  
They sat down at the Hufflepuff table and Alexia yawned again.  
  
"Someone didn't get enough sleep," mumbled Lorelei.  
  
Alexia glanced at Lorelei.  
  
"I'm not usually up until noon," she said, yawning again.  
  
Alexia slowly nibbled on some toast and they began to talk. Soon slips of parchment were being handed down the table towards them, and Parvati smiled when she got hers.  
  
"Oy! Schedules!" she cried.  
  
Alexia sat up and looked at the piece of parchment, and rubbed her eyes again.  
  
On Mondays they had Charms with Ravenclaw, History of Magic with Slytherin, a break for lunch, then Herbology and Defense against the Dark Arts with Gryffindor.  
  
Tuesdays they had Transfigurations and Charms with Ravenclaw, a break for lunch, then History of Magic, and then Herbology.  
  
Wednesday they had potions first thing with Slytherin, transfigurations, lunch, charms, and then history of Magic. They also had Astronomy Class every Wednesday at midnight, just Hufflepuffs.  
  
Thursday they started off with Defense against the Dark Arts, Potions, lunch, Transfigurations and last was charms.  
  
Friday was Transfigurations, Defense against the Dark Arts, lunch and then double Potions until class was dismissed.  
  
After they compared class schedules, Alexia noticed Linnea, Piper and a rather handsome looking boy sitting at the Gryffindor table. Linnea and Piper smiled and waved and Linnea walked over.  
  
"Morning Lex!" she said excitedly.  
  
"Yup, it is morning," said Alexia, "How was your night?"  
  
"Bloody amazing!" said Linnea.  
  
"How was yours?" asked Piper.  
  
"Tiring," yawned Alexia, "Felt like I didn't sleep one wink last night."  
  
"That's rotten luck," said Linnea, "What class do you have first thing?"  
  
Alexia looked at her schedule again.  
  
"Charms," she said, "With Slytherin."  
  
A very upset look crossed Alexia face.  
  
"That's gotta suck," said Piper.  
  
"We have flying lessons after class today," she said, "Course we're with Slytherin."  
  
Linnea glanced over to see Ashlee, Hades and Jemima studying their schedules. Linnea rolled her eyes and looked back at Alexia, but her gaze was focused on the boy at the Gryffindor table.  
  
"Who is he?" she asked.  
  
"Chris Moody," said Piper, "Second year, he's really very nice."  
  
"I've heard about him," said Lorelei, "Oh he's dreamy!"  
  
Alexia laughed and suddenly there was a very loud noise coming from above them.  
  
"Mail's here," said Parvati and the hall suddenly filled with owls, all carrying packages and letters.  
  
A very large brown owl landed in front of Alexia and hooted at her.  
  
"What?" she asked, looking at the bird.  
  
She noticed that on the owls leg was a letter with her name on it. She pulled it off, the owl took a bit of a nibble at Alexia's sausage and then took off. She opened the letter and found a very familiar scrawl on it.  
  
Dear Lex,  
  
Oy! How are you? I'm just fine, and I must say that the house is rather boring without you around to terrorize the place.and I mean that very seriously. Life at the house is very boring without you. Grandma isn't getting you out of trouble, the neighbors aren't complaining about the noise, and Dad's not stressing out every two seconds when you don't show up on time.it's very lonely without you here.  
  
So how's school? Hufflepuff is probably the same as it's always been.cheerful and very loud. Greatest years of my life were spent in that tower. Ah, good times.  
  
I suppose you've already met Dumbledore, Dad sent him an owl right after we got home from seeing you off. Dad wanted to make sure you knew someone you could talk to no matter what.  
  
So what house did Linnea get sorted into? Have you made any new friends? Do you like the classes? Have you seen Quidditch yet? There is so much stuff you have to experience at Hogwarts, Lex!  
  
By the way, this is my owl, Grim. He's always running around delivering mail for me, just give him some food when he delivers a message or pet him a few times and he'll be happy and leave.  
  
Write me as soon as you can, I want to know how you are doing. Say hi to Dumbledore for me.  
  
You Brother,  
  
Gavin  
  
Alexia couldn't help but smile as she folded the letter up. Parvati looked at her.  
  
"Who's that from?" she asked curiously.  
  
"My brother," said Alexia, "Just checking on me."  
  
"Aw how sweet," said Linnea, making her lovey dovey voice.  
  
"Oh shove off!" laughed Alexia, "He's my brother, I can't help it if he's cool like that."  
  
The bell started to ring and they headed off to their first class, Charms with Ravenclaw. Lorelei and Alexia grabbed their things and headed to Professor Flitwick's classroom. He was a tiny little wizard who stood on piles of books to see the class. It was very amusing to hear him talk about things, because when he got over excited, he might topple over and land on the floor, the pile of books above him. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sat on separate sides of the room, so Alexia amused herself by making faces at Hari. They only stopped when Breena nudged Hari hard in the ribs and frowned at Alexia.  
  
Next they had History of Magic with Slytherin. Professor Binns and decided to retire and now the teacher was now a very thin woman with short gray hair and sharp gray eyes, Professor Virginia Melatka, who seemed to have a very nasty temper for first years, in fact that was the first thing she told them.  
  
"I will not tolerate any antics in this class," she hissed.  
  
Professor Melatka had placed Alexia right in front of Ashlee, next to Lorelei, and behind Hades. Ashlee kept smirking at Jemima, who sat beside her, and laughing, and Alexia had a feeling it was directed towards her.  
  
They finally they got to go to lunch and Alexia sighed as they sat down at the table. Parvati and her began to eat and Alexia cursed Melatka.  
  
"If that damn woman doesn't watch her step one of us students is going to curse her," said Alexia.  
  
Parvati laughed.  
  
"And I supposed you'll be the one to do it," she said.  
  
"Why not?" asked Alexia, "If my family is as powerful as everyone says I don't see why I can't."  
  
Parvati rolled her eyes, but there was a little truth to what she had said.  
  
They talked about their classes and Alexia met several other Gryffindors and Ravenclaws.  
  
But before she knew it her and the other First years were walking out to the green houses for Herbology. They reached the greenhouse and found that almost everyone was there, but no one was going in.  
  
"What's the problem?" Alexia asked, moving towards Piper and Linnea, who were at the edge of the crowd.  
  
"Something happened in the greenhouse," said Linnea, "Lesson was canceled."  
  
"Plants apparently got out of control," said Piper, who was standing beside Linnea, "So we have a free period."  
  
They began to wander around the grounds of Hogwarts, and found a very large man trudging up the hill to the castle.  
  
"That's Hagrid," whispered Lorelei into Alexia's ear, "Grounds keeper and the Care of Magical Creatures teacher."  
  
"Mornin'." He said walking up to them, "Firs' years?"  
  
They all nodded and he smiled.  
  
"Enjoyin' yer firs' day back?" he asked.  
  
"Very much," said Alexia.  
  
"You must be Lorelei Adien," he said, pointing to Lorelei.  
  
"Yeah," she said, "How'd ya know?"  
  
"Had yer brother a while back. Ya look exactly like 'im," he said, "The rest of ya.I'm not sure."  
  
They introduced themselves and Hagrid told them it they ever needed anything to feel free to come and talk to him.  
  
They spent the rest of the class in the Great Hall, talking and finishing up some early homework. After the bell rang, Alexia and Linnea headed to Defense against the Dark Arts. Their teacher was a beautiful tall woman with long blond hair, pale white skin, and blue eyes.  
  
"'Ello class," she said, "I am your professor, Ms. Fleur Delacour, and zis class is Defense against za Dark arts."  
  
Despite her slight accent Delacour was very nice and rather cool. She told them that this would be her last year teaching, so she wanted to go out with a bang.  
  
The next few days grew increasingly interesting as Alexia got her first peak at all of her new classes.  
  
First thing the next morning they made their way to the Transfiguration, which was taught by Professor McGonagall. The class passed very quickly and they were soon leaving. Breena and Hari talked to Alexia and she shoved one last book into her bag, and it split open.  
  
"Damn it," she muttered to herself, reaching for the books.  
  
As she struggled to push the books into her split bag, a Ravenclaw boy started to help. He was about 5' 8" with dirty brown hair and blue eyes and a lot of freckles. He also wore glasses and he smiled at Alexia.  
  
"Here," he said, handing her two of her books.  
  
Alexia blushed slightly and took the books in her arms and McGonagall walked over.  
  
"Is there something wrong, Ms. Malfoy?" asked McGonagall.  
  
"Yes, erm." she stammered, "My bag ripped."  
  
McGonagall waved her wand and the rip instantly disappeared. Alexia held the last two books in her arms.  
  
"Thank you, professor," she said, smiling.  
  
"No trouble, dear," said McGonagall, "Now run along."  
  
They left the classroom and the boy still followed them.  
  
"Hey, wait up!" he called after them.  
  
They stopped and turned around.  
  
"What is it Dan?" asked Breena.  
  
"Who's the new girl?" he asked, slightly out of breath from running.  
  
"Me?" squeaked Alexia.  
  
"Yeah," said the boy.  
  
"Oh," said Hari, a sarcastic tone to her voice, "This is Madame Alexia Malfoy, the first."  
  
Alexia hit Hari in the arm.  
  
"I'm Alexia," Alexia said politely, "Alexia Malfoy."  
  
"Nice ta meet cha," said the boy, "I'm Daniel, Daniel Hatter."  
  
"Nice to meet ya Dan," said Alexia.  
  
Dan grinned and excused himself. They walked towards the main staircase and Hari and Breena giggled incessantly.  
  
"What?" asked Alexia, turning and stopping them, "What's so funny?"  
  
"He likes you," said Hari, grinning.  
  
"Who?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Dan!" blurted Breena; "We've seen him like that before, well, I have. I went to primary school with him and he gets polite and funny around girls he likes."  
  
"You're imagining things," muttered Alexia, "We need to get to charms."  
  
The day was pretty uneventful but Alexia was enjoying it non-the-less.  
  
Wednesday was the day that got off to a bumpy start. First class was the one she hadn't had before, the one she was dreading.  
  
"Potions," said Venefica as they headed down into the dungeons.  
  
Alexia rolled her eyes and sighed.  
  
"Will this never end?" moaned Alexia.  
  
"Snape's a nightmare," said Parvati.  
  
"Alex told me he's so bias it's not even funny," said Lorelei, "I'm not looking forward to this class."  
  
"And we're with Slytherin," chimed in Venefica, who rolled her eyes.  
  
"Perfect," sighed Alexia, "This'll be more fun than getting teeth pulled."  
  
They entered the cold dungeons and enter the largest room, where there were only a few small windows and several desks and two chairs at each. In the front was a rather large desk at which sat a very tall, thin man, with long greasy black hair.  
  
"I am Professor Severus Snape," he said, "And this is Potions."  
  
Ashlee and Hades sat at the table behind Venefica and Alexia, and Hades kept jabbing Alexia in the back with a stick that had been on the desk. Alexia tried to ignore it, but she couldn't focus.  
  
"This is by far the most difficult of all the classes at this school," he said, "You will pay attention or you will fail."  
  
The words had hardly left his mouth when Hades jabbed Alexia again and she spun around. "What the bloody hell is your problem!" screeched Alexia.  
  
The entire class filled with silence and Alexia went red. A very innocent look crossed Hades pale face as Snape swept over towards them.  
  
"Is there a problem, Ms. Malfoy?" asked Snape.  
  
Alexia lowered her head and shook it.  
  
"No sir," she said.  
  
"Good," he said, "A point from Hufflepuff to keep you in line, and be sure it doesn't happen again."  
  
Alexia sat there and the lesson continued. They were to make a disappearing potion that would be tested at the end of the class. Alexia and Venefica worked on theirs and finally got it perfect. Alexia looked at the book again and skimmed the directions.  
  
"It says we need to put it in flasks or something so that it won't go bad," said Alexia.  
  
They filled a small flask and disposed of the rest and at the end of the class Snape tested it on several small rats. Venefica handed Snape their flask and he fed it to the rat. It disappeared, while none of the others had, but after a few seconds reappeared. Snape shook his head.  
  
"Very awful work, von Lehn and Malfoy, but I suppose a C will do," he said scribbling it down in his notes.  
  
After class Alexia stormed down the hall.  
  
"Can you believe the nerve of that slimy haired git!" she exclaimed, "Telling us ours was miserable while the others didn't even disappear. I mean Ashlee's keeled over and she still got a perfect score."  
  
"Well that's because I'm not you, Malfoy," snapped a voice.  
  
She turned and saw Ashlee standing there with Hades next to her.  
  
"Better watch it, Malfoy," hissed Hades, "Or you'll end up in a spot of trouble."  
  
"Don't threaten me Hades!" yelled Alexia.  
  
Ashlee reached for her wand, but just then a Prefect walked by. Ashlee moved towards Alexia, and hissed her ear.  
  
"You just watch yourself," she hissed, "Or you'll regret it."  
  
Ashlee walked by and Hades pushed Alexia out of the way, sending her books flying across the dungeon floor.  
  
"Who do they think they are?" asked Alexia, gathering her books.  
  
"They're just doing it because they know it gets to you," said Lorelei, "Just don't show that it's getting to you."  
  
"Easier said than done," muttered Alexia, standing up.  
  
Parvati and Venefica were going to go to the Library so Alexia and Lorelei decided to go to the common room. As they trudged up the chairs, they saw Breena, Hari and another Ravenclaw walking towards them.  
  
"Hey Lex!" said Hari, grinning.  
  
"Hey Bree, Hari," said Alexia smiling, "Who your friend?"  
  
"Oh," said Breena, looking at the girl next to her, "This Alaina."  
  
Alexia shook her hand but the girl ran off very quickly.  
  
"So what are you two up to?" asked Hari, looking at Alexia and Lorelei.  
  
"We're going to the Hufflepuff tower," said Alexia, "Why?"  
  
"Wanna go wander around the grounds?" asked Hari.  
  
Alexia nodded but Lorelei shook her head.  
  
"I got loads of work to do," said Lorelei.  
  
"Alright," said Alexia, "I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall in fifteen minutes?"  
  
"Fifteen minutes," said Breena, as they walked away.  
  
Alexia walked up to the common room and parted with Lorelei who had to go talk to Professor McGonagall. Alexia kept going and on the way she ran into Linnea, who was walking all alone.  
  
"Hey!" yelled Alexia, "What's up chickie?"  
  
Linnea smiled.  
  
"Nothing," she said, "How about you?"  
  
"Getting ready to go wander the grounds," said Alexia, "You?"  
  
"Nothing," she said, "Just going to the common room."  
  
"Wanna come?" asked Alexia.  
  
Linnea nodded.  
  
Alexia quickly dumped her stuff in the common room and her and Linnea dashed down to the entrance hall. Hari and Breena were talking very quickly when they walked over to them.  
  
"Ready?" asked Breena.  
  
Alexia nodded.  
  
"Linnea's coming with," she said, "That okay?"  
  
They both nodded and they set off out onto the grounds. It was a beautiful fall day, and there were a lot of students who were out enjoying themselves. They found a nice patch of grass near the lake and sat down. Alexia looked up at the sky, and could feel the sun warming her cold pale skin. She could hear Breena telling the others about her classes, but Alexia was listening. She was watching the clouds drift dreamily across the sky.  
  
"Alexia." Echoed a voice in the back of her head.  
  
She smiled and kept watching the sky. The world seemed to swirl around her.  
  
"Alexia!" the voice said a little more forcefully.  
  
Alexia shook herself mentally and sat up. She turned and saw Breena, Hari and Linnea were staring at her. She grinned.  
  
"Sorry about that." she muttered, "What were you saying?"  
  
"I was just saying how much fun flying lessons will be," said Hari.  
  
"We'll have to go watch Quidditch!" said Breena.  
  
They kept talking and soon they were heading back up to the school for dinner. Alexia had never been happier, but for some reason, she felt very empty.  
  
The next day after classes, Alexia, Parvati, Breena and Hari headed down to the flying lesson area. Breena and Parvati seemed very excited, but Hari and Alexia were a little apprehensive about the whole thing. They walked into the flying area and Madame Hooch lined them up.  
  
"Welcome first years," she said, "This is your first flying lesson. Now stick your right hand over your broom and say 'up'."  
  
Alexia turned to Parvati and shrugged. She did so, and the old broom jumped up to her hand. Alexia gripped it and watched as the others tried to get theirs to come up to the right height. After about fifteen minutes, the whole class had their broom up.  
  
"Alright," said Hooch, "Now, please mount your broom, and when I blow my whistle, kick off, hover, than return to the ground."  
  
They mounted their brooms and Madame Hooch sounded her whistle. Breena and Parvati seemed to be having no problem, but Hari seemed very nervous.  
  
After that Madame Hooch allowed them to fly around the field for a few minutes, and Alexia had never had a better feeling. The fact that she was soaring over the ground, free like a bird, she loved it.  
  
That night at dinner Alexia talked to Lorelei and Venefica about flying. They had all had it the previous day, but not been as successful at flying as they had. Alexia and Natalea Garren, a third year who was the Quidditch Captain and seeker talked about Quidditch all night in the common room. Alexia had read over Quidditch through the Ages several times before she finally drifted asleep, dreaming of playing the fascinating game. 


	7. Innocent Prank

Chapter Six  
  
Innocent Prank  
  
As the weeks past, Alexia's spirits started to dwindle and she seemed to be becoming lonelier by the day. She would often wander during conversations, but she was doing great in all of her classes.  
  
That night at dinner, Alexia didn't return to the Hufflepuff common room. Parvati had last seen her after dinner, but when she had turned around, Alexia was nowhere to be found. Parvati talked to Venefica and they both didn't know where she was.  
  
"Maybe we should check with Linnea, or Breena," said Venefica, "I'm worried about her."  
  
They set off to find Alexia, but little did they know that the others were a step ahead of them. Hari and Breena were set off by Alexia acting funny and wanted to know what was up. They had split up and headed into the castle to find her, and Hari had looked almost everywhere, and finally she decided to check the owlery.  
  
The room was tall and filled with tons of owls. In the corner sat a person, one who was stifling the cries and sobs while writing.  
  
"Excuse me," asked Hari softly, "Are you okay?"  
  
The girl looked up and Hari realized it was Alexia. She looked very different in the darkness, her eyes red with tears, face very flushed, and trembling too.  
  
"Lex." muttered Hari, "What's wrong?"  
  
She didn't say anything; she just looked down at the letter on the ground by her feet.  
  
"I miss them," Alexia whispered.  
  
"Lex." whispered Hari.  
  
She hugged Alexia, and sat down. They started to talk and Alexia told her about how close her and her brother were. She poured out everything to Hari, and by the end, Alexia felt a lot better. Hari glanced at her watch and it was very late.  
  
"C'mon," she said, "Breena will be wondering where we are."  
  
As they went to leave the owlery, a large blob fell from the rafters and hit Hari on the head. It landed with a sick squish noise and a disgusted look crossed her face.  
  
"Ewwwwww!" she squealed, "Lex! Ew! Lex! I just got pooped on!"  
  
Lex turned and saw the mess in Hari's hair. She tried not to laugh and told her to hold still. They left the owlery quickly and went to the bathroom, where Hari washed her hair in the sink.  
  
"Bloody birds are menaces! I swear I'm never going back there again!" she shrieked, "I mean honestly!"  
  
Alexia giggled silently as they made their way to the Hufflepuff common room. Alexia said good-bye and thanked Hari and crawled through the portrait. Inside sat Venefica, Parvati and Lorelei, all looking very worried.  
  
"Lex!" gasped Parvati.  
  
They all tackled her and hugged her tightly.  
  
"What?" she asked, as they got off of her.  
  
"Where were you?" asked Parvati.  
  
"We looked everywhere!" said Venefica.  
  
"You had us so worried." said Lorelei.  
  
Alexia shook her head and smiled.  
  
"I was in the owlery," she said, "I needed some time to myself.but I'm okay."  
  
They didn't look like they believed her, but they all went off to bed, and Alexia slept like she hadn't in weeks.  
  
The next morning was a Saturday in late October. Alexia yawned and when she climbed out of bed she noticed that there were several pumpkins setting around. Today was Halloween.  
  
Alexia stumbled down into the common room where Parvati and Lorelei were sitting playing wizard chess. Alexia plopped down on a chair next to Venefica, who was reading a book. Alexia sighed and Lorelei looked at her.  
  
"Morning Lex." She said, "Ready for Halloween Feast tonight?"  
  
Alexia shrugged. It didn't seem to get her very excited by telling her about the yummy feast that would take place that night.  
  
She spent the day wandering the grounds with Linnea. They hadn't had a chance to really hang out and talk to each other one on one. It made Alexia miss Linnea, and regret that they were in two separate houses.  
  
Linnea had become greatly interested in Quidditch and was excelling at her transfiguration class. As they wandered around the grounds they saw three students standing near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, huddled over a piece of parchment and talking very quietly. Alexia walked towards them and noticed two of them were Hari and Breena.  
  
"Hey guys," Alexia said. Hari looked up and Breena pulled the paper quickly out of site. She had a very guilty look on her face. The other girl quickly ran off and Alexia raised and eyebrow at Hari and Breena.  
  
"What are you two up to?" she asked, sounding very suspicious.  
  
"Why would we be up to anything?" asked Breena, trying to sound innocent.  
  
"You two can't fool me," said Alexia, "You're up to something."  
  
"Don't worry about it," said Hari, "It's none of your concern, Lex."  
  
Alexia looked slightly insulted by the tone of Hari's voice. She had never heard her talk like that before. She sounded very bossy to say the least. Breena could see Alexia was getting a little angry, so she pulled Alexia aside away from Hari and Linnea.  
  
"You don't want to get involved with this Lex," said Breena, "Trust me, stay out of this." There was a look in Breena's eyes that told Alexia to listen to her. Alexia nodded slowly and Breena smiled.  
  
"Trust me," said Breena.  
  
"Okay," whispered Alexia.  
  
Hari and Breena headed back into the castle, but Alexia couldn't help but feel that Breena was comforting her, even though she wasn't there.  
  
Linnea and Alexia returned to the castle around four o'clock. Alexia slowly walked up to the Hufflepuff common room. She climbed through the portrait and into the common room where everyone was eager to go to the Halloween Feast. She wandered up into the dorm room and fell backwards on the bed and sighed. What had they been up to?  
  
"Something wrong?" asked a voice near the entrance to the room.  
  
Alexia quickly sat up and saw Venefica standing near the door.  
  
"Fine." Alexia said shortly.  
  
"You sure?" asked Venefica.  
  
Alexia nodded.  
  
"Okay," said Venefica, "Well, we're heading down to the Great Hall for the feast, wanna come?"  
  
"Yeah," said Alexia.  
  
They headed down to the Great Hall and sat down at the Hufflepuff table. Alexia glanced over her shoulder at Linnea, who was watching the Ravenclaw table. Hari and Breena were once again huddled over the piece of parchment. Lorelei noticed her watching the girls and poked her on the shoulder.  
  
"What are you looking at?" asked Lorelei, passing her the mashed potatoes.  
  
"Huh?" asked Alexia as the large bowl was dropped into her hands, "Oh.nothing."  
  
The feast continued and about half way through, Linnea came over for a moment, and there was a girl standing behind her with dirty blond hair. She smiled at Alexia.  
  
"Hi," she said.  
  
Alexia greeted her and Linnea rolled her eyes.  
  
"This is Ella Chambers," she said, "Ella, this is Alexia Malfoy."  
  
Ella smiled. She was a little over 5 foot and had blond hair and big blue eyes. Ella went to sit back down by Piper and Linnea leaned over.  
  
"What's going to happen," she whispered to Alexia through the corner of her mouth.  
  
"Dunno," said Alexia, "Something big."  
  
Linnea sat back down and Alexia resumed the feast.  
  
It was nearly midnight and Alexia had through maybe her imagination had run away with her and she was just paranoid. As they headed out of the Great Hall, Hari grabbed Alexia's hand and pulled her back  
  
"What the." Alexia started.  
  
She saw Breena had grabbed Linnea's and they all stayed back. They watched as Ashlee, Hades and Jemina exited the Great Hall.  
  
"Now," hissed Hari.  
  
Breena pulled out her wand and whisper a spell. Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and there stood Hades, Jemina, and Ashlee, their hair cut very short and standing on end, their robes were gone and replaced with filthy rags and there were bug crawling all over them. Hades hair was bright pink, Jemina's was orange and Ashlee's was neon purple. Jemina screamed at the sight of the others. Alexia and Linnea had nearly doubled over but Breena and Hari pulled them from the Great Hall.  
  
"RUN!" hissed Breena.  
  
Ashlee saw the four of them running and her face contorted.  
  
"COME BACK HERE!" she screamed.  
  
Ashlee went to run after them, but tripped over her tattered clothes and slid across the floor. Hades helped her up, and Ashlee screamed with rage.  
  
"You'll pay for this!" she yelled, "You'll pay dearly!"  
  
They reached the library and Alexia fell to the floor laughing. Linnea was in tears and Hari was smiling triumphantly. Breena gave Hari and high five and smiled proudly.  
  
"Amazing," she said smiling.  
  
"Is that what you were planning?" asked Alexia, slowly stopping her laughter.  
  
Breena and Hari didn't answer, but Alexia knew the answer.  
  
"It was bloody brilliant!" said Linnea excitedly.  
  
"We didn't want you two to get involved," explained Hari.  
  
"Why would we?" asked Linnea.  
  
"Because Ashlee would say you're our friends so you were in on it," said Breena.  
  
"She'll probably still take it out on us," said Alexia.  
  
Breena shrugged. She figured that one way or another it would happen.  
  
Breena took Alexia to her common room, telling her that Ashlee might still be upset from the whole ordeal. Breena looked at Alexia, who was still laughing about what had happened.  
  
"It was classic," said Alexia.  
  
"Yeah," said Breena, "Lex, listen."  
  
Alexia stopped at looked at Breena.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
Breena was about to say something but Parvati came walking out of the portrait.  
  
"There you are Lex!" she exclaimed.  
  
"See ya," said Breena.  
  
She turned around and walked off. Alexia blinked, very confused, and walked into the common room. She ignored Parvati and when they got into the dorm Alexia lost it.  
  
"Why did you have to do that?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Do what?" asked Parvati.  
  
"Barge in!" blurted out Alexia.  
  
"I didn't barge in," said Parvati, "I was looking for you. If that's so wrong then sue me!"  
  
Parvati stormed from the dorm and Alexia threw her shoe at the door.  
  
"That's not called for," Alexia muttered.  
  
"What's the big deal?" asked a soft voice.  
  
Alexia looked at the bed to the right of the door. There sat Verity, had she been there the whole time.  
  
"Breena was going to tell me something," said Alexia, "But Parvati barged in."  
  
"I don't think Parvati meant it," said Verity.  
  
"Well Breena might have had something important to say," said Alexia.  
  
Verity shook her head.  
  
"It's not worth it to ruin a friendship over something small," said Verity, leaving the common room.  
  
Alexia flopped down onto the bed and closed her eyes. What had she just done? Had she just ruined a friendship over something stupid? 


	8. Mending the Wounds

Chapter Seven  
  
Mending the Wounds  
  
The next few days were very bumpy. The 1st year Hufflepuff girls were having some trouble getting along with Alexia and Parvati in their little fight, so Alexia spent most of her time with Linnea and the other Gryffindors.  
  
But at night she didn't really have a choice. She would sit in the common room, taking part in one-sided conversations that were led by Lorelei or Venefica. Parvati and Alexia wouldn't say anything but just sit and glare at each other.  
  
One day, on the way to Potions class, Parvati was being especially foul toward Alexia. Lorelei and her were talking about classes and how hard potions were when Venefica and Parvati walked by.  
  
"I honestly don't know how people can it's so hard," said Parvati, a very snooty tone to her voice, "Only morons would have a hard time."  
  
Alexia clenched her teeth and went to say something, but Lorelei stopped her.  
  
"Just ignore her," she said.  
  
"No," hissed Alexia, "She's asking for it."  
  
Alexia walked over to Parvati and pushed her across the hall.  
  
"What was that about?" yelled Parvati.  
  
"You being so bloody stupid!" Alexia shouted back.  
  
"You're the one who's an immature child!" retorted Parvati, "Are you ever going to grow up?"  
  
"I will before you pull your head out of your bum!" spat Alexia.  
  
Parvati's face dropped, and her eyes narrowed.  
  
"You went too far," she mumbled, reaching into her robes.  
  
Alexia grabbed her wand, but Parvati fired first.  
  
"Vertistacular!" she yelled.  
  
Alexia flipped back in the hall and slammed into the wall. She fell onto the floor in a heap, and Parvati dropped her wand. She heard someone laughing behind her and turned to see Ashlee and Hades standing there.  
  
"What's so funny?" asked Venefica, standing next to Parvati.  
  
"Poor Huffs, fighting amongst themselves." said Hades, looking down at Alexia in the heap on the floor, "Really a pity when such pathetic people turn on each other."  
  
Lorelei moved to Alexia, she wasn't moving, but she was still breathing.  
  
"Venefica," mumbled Lorelei, "I don't think she's okay."  
  
"Waddya mean?" asked Venefica.  
  
"I think Parvati knocked her out," Lorelei explained, "Let's get her to the Hospital wing.and fast."  
  
Parvati looked over at Alexia; she didn't look too good.  
  
"Let's go," said Parvati, picking up Alexia.  
  
Parvati, Lorelei and Venefica took Alexia to the hospital wing, where Madame Pomfrey told them off for missing their class.  
  
"You three need to get to class immediately!" hissed Madame Pomfrey, tending to Alexia.  
  
They all left, but for the rest of the day Parvati couldn't help but feel a large swell of guilt in her stomach whenever she thought of Alexia. Around dinnertime, they quickly ate and headed up to the hospital wing, where they found that Alexia already had some visitors. Hari and Breena sat on Alexia's bed talking to her. She looked awful, paler than normal and had large black and blue bags under her eyes.  
  
"You missed so much in classes." said Hari.  
  
Alexia looked over and saw Lorelei and Parvati standing near the door. Parvati had a look of guilt on her face and Breena looked at Alexia.  
  
"We'll see you later Lex," she said.  
  
Hari and Breena left and Alexia smiled at Lorelei.  
  
"Hi," she said, avoiding Parvati's eyes.  
  
"How are you feeling?" asked Lorelei.  
  
"Fine I suppose," said Alexia, "I can leave tonight once Madame Pomfrey checks me again."  
  
"That's good," said Parvati quietly.  
  
Alexia looked at her, a confused look on her face. She didn't know whether to be angry or not.  
  
"Look, Lex," said Parvati, "I'm sorry about what I did."  
  
"Good, you should be," said Alexia.  
  
"But how was I supposed to know that you and Breena were having a deep conversation?" asked Parvati, "I can't read minds."  
  
"But you shouldn't have interrupted," said Alexia, "Isn't that a main courtesy thing that you were taught when you were a kid?"  
  
"Yeah, but I had something to tell you," said Parvati.  
  
"Well you could have.." Alexia stopped, "Wait, what did you want to tell me?"  
  
Parvati looked down and then back up at her.  
  
"Professor Sprout had announced that they changed a rule about Quidditch," said Parvati, "First years are allowed to have their own brooms and try out for the team as well."  
  
Alexia's jaw dropped. Parvati looked sheepishly at the floor  
  
"That was it?' asked Alexia, looking very shocked.  
  
"Yeah," said Parvati, "Kind of stupid, eh?"  
  
Alexia nodded, blushing a little. That little of a thing had almost ruined their friendship?  
  
Alexia spent the rest of the day in the hospital wing with Linnea, talking eagerly about the Quidditch try-outs.  
  
"Something must have changed Dumbledore's mind," said Alexia, "Breena told me that the last first year to be on a Quidditch team was Harry Potter."  
  
"Who?" asked Linnea, sounding confused.  
  
Alexia shrugged.  
  
"Some kid I guess," she said, "But it was a big deal because I mean he was a First year."  
  
"You think you'll make it?" asked Linnea.  
  
Alexia shrugged.  
  
"I hope so," she said, "What about you?"  
  
Linnea shrugged.  
  
"I won't get my hopes up," said Linnea sounding miserable for the first time since they had gotten to Hogwarts.  
  
"I'm sure if you try hard enough you'll make it," said Alexia, trying to sound reassuring.  
  
Within minutes Madame Pomfrey told Alexia she could go and they wandered out of the Hospital wing. They talked excitedly about the try-outs but Alexia stopped short.  
  
"Linnea." she said, "What if we don't have broomsticks?"  
  
Linnea blinked several times. She hadn't thought about that.  
  
"Your Dad could just buy you one," said Linnea.  
  
"But what about you?" asked Alexia, "You need one as well."  
  
"I dunno if it's even worth me trying out." muttered Linnea.  
  
Alexia grabbed her shoulder.  
  
"You've gotta try out," she said, "If you don't who's butt will I kick when Hufflepuff wins the house cup."  
  
Linnea laughed.  
  
"Hufflepuff? Win the house cup?" she chuckled.  
  
"Why not?' asked Alexia, looking sharply at Linnea.  
  
"I don't think you guys could ever stand a chance." Linnea trailed off.  
  
By now they had reached the Hufflepuff common room. Alexia turned on her heel and stormed into the common room. She slammed the portrait behind her and up to her dorm, fuming with anger. The others were all there as Alexia threw her bag on the floor.  
  
"Lex." said Venefica, "Lex, calm down."  
  
She flopped down on the bed, smushed her face in a pillow and started to scream.  
  
"Whoa," said Parvati, pulling her off the pillow, "What's wrong?"  
  
Alexia told them what Linnea had said, and Lorelei looked at Verity.  
  
"She was probably just letting off some steam," said Verity, "Although."  
  
"Hufflepuff hasn't won in a while," said Lorelei, "And it doesn't look good for this year, either."  
  
Alexia looked down at the floor. She would send her Father an owl so she could get a broom. She was going to try out for the Quidditch team and Hufflepuff was going to win the Quidditch cup. 


	9. Pay Back

Chapter Eight  
  
Pay Back  
  
A week went by and Alexia's Father said that if she made the team, they would buy her a broom, but she figured that she'd get one eventually, with her own pocket money or as a present for Christmas. They had the Quidditch tryouts and as it turned out, no first years made it, not because they weren't good enough, but there were only a few spots left, and those went to the more experienced players.  
  
In the meantime Alexia and Linnea didn't talk much. In fact Alexia was becoming closer to Daniel Hatter, Chris Moody and Jamie Shadowboxer. Chris had taken Alexia out to the pitch one afternoon to explain Quidditch to her. It was a very cool late fall day, and Alexia could feel winter closely approaching. Even though she hadn't made the team, she still wanted to know more about the sport, so she wouldn't be out of the loop.  
  
"It's pretty simple," he said, setting the trunk down with a loud clunk.  
  
He opened it and revealed a large red ball, two black ones and a tiny golden one.  
  
"This is the Quaffle," he said, picking up the large red ball and handing it to Alexia, "The Chasers pass it back and forth and try to put it through the hoops over there."  
  
He pointed across the field and Alexia nodded.  
  
"The Keeper tries to keep the Chasers from scoring," said Chris, "That's my job for the Gryffindor team."  
  
Suddenly the trunk jumped about five inches in the air. Alexia gasped and jumped back, watching the box as though it might explode.  
  
"Don't worry," said Chris, stifling a chuckle, "Those are the Bludgers."  
  
"The what?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Bludger," repeated Chris.  
  
Alexia looked at him very confused and he shook his head.  
  
"Here," he said, handing her a black club, "Get ready."  
  
Alexia tightened her grip on the club as Chris released the Bludger. It flew up in the air and then it came hurtling back down towards Alexia.  
  
"HIT IT!" Chris yelled.  
  
Alexia waited, then swung as hard as she could, hitting the bludger as far as possible. Chris looked slightly impressed as it sailed over the low castle wall.  
  
"Nice job Lex," he said, smiling.  
  
"Thanks," she said grinning.  
  
Suddenly the bludger swooped over the wall and back at them. Chris knocked Alexia over onto the ground as it zipped over head. He stood up and as the bludger headed towards him he caught it. He wrestled it into its box and gave a sigh of relief.  
  
"The bludgers are the beaters problem," said Chris, slightly out of breath, "Unless of course they come after the other players."  
  
Chris put down the club and opened the smallest container. In it was a very small golden ball, the snitch.  
  
"This is the golden snitch," he said, "The seeker's job is to catch this before the other team can. It' worth 150 points and almost assures the seekers team victory."  
  
He handed the snitch to Alexia and she looked at it.  
  
"Wow," she said smiling, "It's beautiful."  
  
"It may look pretty, but it's meant for speed," he said, "That's why it's so hard to catch."  
  
After about an hour of trying out Quidditch and flying, Alexia and Chris headed inside. They departed in the entrance hall, Alexia thanking him for helping her, and she headed for the Hufflepuff common room.  
  
But before she could get there she overheard voices talking.  
  
"I'll make that those girls pay," snarled the voice, "They'll never humiliate me again!"  
  
Alexia froze and hid behind a large statue of a lion and watched as several girls walked down the hall.  
  
"Ashlee, quiet!" hissed one of them who Alexia had never seen before.  
  
"Don't tell me what to do Fe!" snapped Ashlee, "I'm sick of those stupid girls picking fights with me when they have no right! They're going to pay dearly!"  
  
"What are you going to do to them?" asked Hades, who was on the other side of Ashlee, a slight hint of excitement in her voice.  
  
"Haven't decided," Ashlee said shortly, "But that Mudblood Granger and Brightheart going to pay dearly, and so will Malfoy, if she doesn't watch her step."  
  
The girl called Fe chuckled slightly.  
  
"Alexia is a Malfoy?" she started to laugh harder, "In HUFFLEPUFF?"  
  
Fe roared with laugher and Ashlee pushed her.  
  
Fe was smaller than the others with long reddish brown hair, which was very wavy. Her skin was very pale and her eyes were hazel. She had what looked like a kind face but by the glint in her eyes Alexia could tell she had an evil side.  
  
"Sorry," said Fe, giggling slightly, "It's just I never thought I'd live to see a Malfoy in Hufflepuff. I mean they were all Slytherins weren't they?"  
  
Ashlee shrugged.  
  
"Evidently somewhere along the line the blood went bad," Hades muttered, "A shame too."  
  
Hades trailed off and Alexia heard footsteps running down the hall. Next thing she knew Jemima was standing near the other Slytherins.  
  
"I've found something," she said, sounding excited, "C'mon!"  
  
The Slytherin girls ran off and once they were gone Alexia bolted to the common room. She had to tell Breena and Hari what was going on, but she didn't know where they were right now. She entered the common room and saw Verity sitting in a chair, reading a book.  
  
"Verity," said Alexia, half out of breath, "Have you see Breena or Hari?"  
  
"Huh?" asked Verity, looking up, "No.can't say I have. A whole bunch of people are in the library right now, though. You might want to check there."  
  
Alexia nodded and took off out of the common room.  
  
She ran down the hallway and slammed into someone just outside the library. Alexia hadn't been concentrating on where she was going and plowed right into another girl, a fellow first year. She looked up to the Slytherin girl she had overheard in the hall a few moments earlier.  
  
"Sorry about that," said Alexia, scrambling to help Fe up.  
  
"Don't worry about it," said Fe in a very off-handed way, not taking Alexia's helping hand and getting up herself.  
  
Fe looked up at the girl and her eyes flashed.  
  
"Are you Alexia Malfoy?" she asked.  
  
Alexia nodded slowly and a smiled crossed Fe's face.  
  
"I'm Feronia Ardantane," she said, "But you can call me Fe."  
  
"It's nice to meet you," said Alexia, grinning, "But if you'll excuse me I gotta go."  
  
Alexia took off and ran into the library making a lot of noise. She saw the look of death that Madame Pince was giving her and she began to walk.  
  
She found Hari, Breena, Daniel and Jamie all sitting around a table studying.  
  
"Breena!" hissed Alexia as Madame Pince swept by, "Hari, we're in so much trouble."  
  
Breena looked alarmed, as did Hari.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Hari.  
  
"The Slytherins, they're going to do something to us.well you guys," Alexia explained, "They'll only do something to me if I keep getting in the way."  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Breena.  
  
"I heard them," said Alexia, "Saying something about how you two are going to pay. They were serious, Bree, really serious."  
  
"I'm not afraid of them," said Breena, shaking off Alexia's words and diving back into her Charms homework.  
  
"Breena you've got to listen!" hissed Alexia.  
  
But she didn't look back up; she just kept on writing her essay. Hari shook her head and Alexia looked at her.  
  
"Just watch yourself," said Alexia.  
  
"Don't worry," said Hari, "Breena will be fine."  
  
Alexia nodded and said good-bye and left the library. She started to wandered towards the common room when she saw Linnea walking slowly down the hall. Alexia couldn't help but notice how Linnea had changed.  
  
She no longer had a little spring in her step, her eyes looked dull and tired and she seemed to wasn't smiling.  
  
Piper was next to her, trying to force some sort of conversation. Piper looked up and saw Alexia and smiled.  
  
"Lex!" she called, "Lex, over here!"  
  
Piper jumped up and down and Alexia smiled.  
  
"Hey guys," said Alexia softly.  
  
Linnea looked up and glared at her.  
  
"C'mon Piper," she said, "We've got homework to do."  
  
Piper walked up Alexia and pushed something into her hand. Alexia continued towards the Common Room and opened the note.  
  
Lex,  
  
Meet me outside the Great Hall after dinner.I need to talk.  
  
Piper  
  
Alexia turned and looked at Linnea, who was talking angrily to Piper, as they headed into a classroom. Alexia shrugged and kept walking, heading for the common room. She crawled through the portrait and saw Parvati and Venefica playing a game of Exploding Snap in the corner. Alexia flopped down in a chair and Lorelei looked up.  
  
"What's up Lex?" asked Lorelei. Her tone of voice told Alexia that she could tell something was wrong.  
  
"Nothing," said Alexia, looking down at the floor.  
  
Lorelei looked at her when suddenly there was a loud explosion from across the room. Parvati and Venefica sat there, their eyebrows slightly singed and their faces covered with black ash. They started to laugh and Alexia rolled her eyes. Right now all she wanted was to be alone.  
  
"I'll see you guys at dinner," she said, standing and leaving the common room.  
  
Alexia made her way across the school and into the owlery. She pushed open the door and saw there were no students around. She smiled and closed the door and walked to a corner. She pulled out her sketchbook and began to draw. She drew a picture of an owl snoozing in the corner. She looked at her watch and noticed that dinner was due to start in an hour.  
  
Alexia was about to get up and leave when the door flew open. Ashlee and Fe were standing there, Fe holding a letter. Alexia sunk down behind several of the sleeping owls and froze. She couldn't move.  
  
"So you think that they have any idea?" asked Ashlee as she tied the letter to an owl's leg.  
  
"Not the faintest!" said Fe happily, "Hades is sure everything is set, nothing could go wrong."  
  
Ashlee pushed the sleepy owl out the window and it took off and she smiled.  
  
"Those stupid girls will pay," she said, scowling, "Just wait."  
  
They exited the owlery and Alexia sat up. Breena and Hari were in for it for sure.  
  
Alexia dashed to the Great Hall for supper and found Hari and Breena.  
  
"Bree, you've got to listen!" Alexia gasped.  
  
Breena looked up.  
  
"If this is about the Slytherins again I don't care," she said, "I already told you I'm not afraid of them."  
  
"Well maybe you should be!" spat Alexia.  
  
"Why? Asked Hari.  
  
"They've got it out for both of you," said Alexia, "Even me if I don't get lost."  
  
"What could they possibly do?" asked Breena, laughing slightly.  
  
After several minutes Breena convinced Alexia to return to her seat and she did, but the others could tell she was edgy all during the meal.  
  
"Eat Lex!" urge Venefica, handing her some potatoes, "C'mon, it's really good!"  
  
"No," said Alexia, "I'm not hungry."  
  
Venefica shrugged and handed the plate to another Hufflepuff. Lex couldn't help but keep looking from the Slytherins to the Ravenclaws. Something was going to happen, but she wished she could stop it.  
  
Then, near the end of dinner, it did.  
  
The pudding had appeared on the table and everyone dug in. Breena and Hari seemed to be enjoying theirs a lot, but Alexia couldn't eat, her stomach just wasn't up to it. She watched as Breena finished her pudding and so did Hari. Alexia looked down and took a small bite of her pudding and then refused to eat anymore. Suddenly she felt very sick, like her insides were swelling. She looked at Breena and Hari, who were both gagging over their pudding. They turned and Alexia could see their faces were swollen and their heads seemed about seven sizes too large for their heads.  
  
The Hufflepuffs seemed to panic and so did the Ravenclaws. Alexia could see Piper at the Gryffindor table looking very concerned, but Linnea was bent over in silent giggles. The Slytherins howled with laughter and Alexia could see Ashlee, Fe and Hades high fiving each other. That's when she knew, it was them.  
  
After dinner, they headed to Dumbledore's office, where he shrunk their tongues. After a few minutes they left, Breena cursing the Slytherins loudly.  
  
"Can you believe them?" she yelled, "The nerve!"  
  
"You did kind of deserve it," said Daniel, who had followed along to explain what had happened to Dumbledore.  
  
"Shut up Dan!" snapped Alexia; her face very sore was the enlarging.  
  
Apparently the Slytherins had enchanted the dishes right before they were sent, which made sense. Jemima hadn't been at dinner; she must have been in the kitchen. Dumbledore figured that someone had cast a very strong and powerful enlarging charm on the pudding. Alexia had never felt so humiliated, as did Hari, but Breena was enraged.  
  
"I told you they were up to something!" said Alexia, rubbing the side of her face, "You should've listened to me!"  
  
But Breena wasn't listening. Alexia could almost see her mind busily working away, thinking up a plan. Hari shook her head.  
  
"No, no more tricks!" she insisted, "This has already gone way too far!"  
  
"Yeah, let's just let them be," said Alexia, looking to Breena.  
  
"Right." said Breena vaguely, her eyes strangely out of focus.  
  
Hari rolled her eyes. She knew Breena was still going to do something, which is the just the way she was. She didn't take things lying down.  
  
They reached a staircase and Hari and Breena headed towards the Ravenclaw common room. Alexia headed towards the Hufflepuff common room, walking slowly. She didn't want to go back to the common room. She'd probably face people laughing at her, making fun of how weird she looked with her face all puffed out like a blowfish. She soon found herself facing the portrait that led to the common room. Alexia blinked several times but finally she turned away. She didn't want to go to in, she didn't want to be with the others.  
  
She quickly turned on her heel and ran down the hall. She didn't know where she was going, nor did she really care. It didn't matter to her. She pushed open the doors to the entrance hall and saw the empty grounds before her. The sun was barely dipping beneath the forest and she saw the pitch in the background. She started to walk, then began running towards it. She knew what she wanted to do; she wanted to fly.  
  
She reached the pitch and found two people flying around. They were both rather small and tossing the Quaffle back and forth. She squinted and realized that one of them was Piper, her long brown hair flying behind her.  
  
"Catch Linnea!" yelled Piper, throwing the Quaffle.  
  
The other figure swooped in and caught the Quaffle quickly and sped across the field. Linnea was a superb flyer, better than Alexia could've ever guessed. Alexia saw the box of Quidditch balls lay open near the corner of the field and a few beater bats lay nearby. Alexia grinned and saw an old Comet broom setting nearby. She picked up the broom and the club and released the bludgers.  
  
"Let's have some fun," she muttered to herself.  
  
Alexia took off, streaking through the air. She watched as one of the bludgers hit Linnea in the arm, causing her to reel in pain.  
  
"Ouch!" she cried, nearly falling off her broom.  
  
Piper and Linnea both looked towards Alexia, but she streaked past them. Linnea swooped down towards the ground and grabbed the other club. Alexia sent another bludger her way, but she knocked it right back. This was a piece of cake for Linnea.  
  
But Alexia didn't see Linnea hit the bludger. She was turned around when the bludger whacked her right in the arm and she screamed with pain.  
  
"Damn it!" yelled Alexia, landing her broom.  
  
Linnea and Piper landed nearby.  
  
"Thought you'd take me out, did you?" asked Linnea, throwing down the broom and storming towards Alexia.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Why were flinging all those bludgers at us then?" asked Linnea.  
  
"Getting some bludger practice," yelled Alexia.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Linnea said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Well then what the bloody hell do you think I was doing?" shouted Alexia.  
  
Linnea glared at her for a moment and then picked up her broom.  
  
"C'mon Piper," said Linnea, leaving the pitch.  
  
"I'm going to get the stuff back together," said Piper, picking up the Quaffle and putting it in the box.  
  
Linnea sighed and stormed off. Alexia conjured the bludgers into the box and snapped it shut.  
  
"Lex, wait," said Piper, running after her.  
  
It was nearly dark when they headed back towards the castle. Piper stood in front of Alexia, blocking her path.  
  
"Move," said Alexia shortly.  
  
Piper glared up at her.  
  
"Piper, get the hell out of the way!" spat Alexia.  
  
"Not until you listen to me!" Piper shouted back.  
  
Alexia had never heard this tone to Piper's voice before. Alexia stepped back and looked at Piper.  
  
"Fine, I'm listening," she said.  
  
Piper sighed.  
  
"Look, Christmas is coming up and I don't want to see you and Linnea fighting like this anymore," Piper pleaded, "She misses you."  
  
"She's got a funny way of showing it," Alexia spat, glaring at Piper.  
  
"There was no reason for this fight!" yelled Piper; "You two are being so immature!"  
  
Alexia stopped. She had been so wrapped up in her anger that she had never really thought about it that way. They were fighting over Linnea saying Gryffindor was better than Hufflepuff. How had that ever happened? Alexia couldn't even remember.  
  
Snow slowly started falling, and Alexia looked at Piper.  
  
"Look, Christmas break is in like a week away," said Piper, "I'm leaving, and so are most of the Gryffindors, could you just.I dunno.could you just try and make up with her?"  
  
Alexia sighed and then nodded.  
  
"Yeah," she said, "I know, this whole thing is stupid."  
  
Piper smiled and they walked towards the school; Alexia thinking about how she would make this up to Linnea. 


	10. Away From Home For The Holidays

Chapter Nine  
  
Away From Home for the Holidays  
  
The week before Christmas flew by and before Alexia knew it, Parvati, Venefica and Verity were packing up and getting ready to head home. Alexia had told her Father she was staying behind to patch things up with Linnea, but he had promised he would try and stop by to visit her.  
  
Lorelei was the only other 1st year Hufflepuff staying behind, so they figured they would have the common room to themselves.  
  
The day that everyone left Lorelei and Alexia made their way down to the Great Hall, talking quietly about what they were going to do.  
  
"It'll seem so empty around here with everyone gone," said Lorelei, as they sat down.  
  
They began to eat and soon Venefica and Parvati came by to say their farewells.  
  
"Don't get into too much trouble without me," said Venefica, smiling.  
  
"You're so lucky," said Lorelei, "I wish I could go home."  
  
Lorelei's family had gone away to visit her brother, Alex, and she had gotten left behind because she had to stay in school.  
  
Alexia was grateful that Lorelei was staying, though, otherwise she would've been alone in the Hufflepuff common room.  
  
Parvati and Venefica hugged Lorelei and Alexia, smiled and then left the Great Hall. They saw other students walking out, Piper among them. She stopped by Alexia and smiled.  
  
"See ya in a two weeks," she said, hugging Alexia and whispered in her ear, "Don't forget about Linnea."  
  
"I know," Alexia muttered, "Have a good time at home."  
  
Alexia sat back down and then looked around. Pretty much everyone had left. Most of the Slytherins were gone and the Ravenclaws were still filing out. Alexia's face dropped as she noticed two of them. She stood from her seat and bolted.  
  
"Breena! Hari!" she yelled.  
  
They turned around and Alexia looked blankly at them.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" asked Alexia.  
  
Breena looked down sheepishly.  
  
"I dunno, I didn't really know for sure until last night," she said, "I'm sorry, Lex, I just need to get out of here."  
  
A group of Slytherin girls walked by and Ashlee glared at them.  
  
"I'd sure hate to be staying here for Christmas," she said loudly, "It'd make me feel like my family didn't love me or something."  
  
Hari narrowed her eyes at Ashlee and Breena rolled her eyes.  
  
"Forget her," said Breena, "She doesn't even have parents."  
  
"Breena!" Alexia gasped.  
  
"Well she doesn't," said Breena angrily, "Why should she be able to pick on people about things she doesn't even have?"  
  
Hari shook her head and Alexia looked at her.  
  
"So why are you going home?" Alexia asked.  
  
"I'm not," said Hari.  
  
"You're.not?" asked Alexia.  
  
"I told Mum and Dad that I preferred to stay here anyway," Hari explained, "They kept saying I should come see them but I told em that I didn't want to."  
  
Alexia smiled and she walked out with Breena and Hari to the carriages to see Breena off. They hoisted Breena's things into the carriage and Breena climbed in, smiling at them.  
  
"Don't have too much fun, ya hear me?" she said smiling.  
  
"We will!" yelled Hari smiling.  
  
The carriages started to pull away and Alexia smiled.  
  
"See ya Breena!" she yelled and the carriages disappeared.  
  
Alexia and Hari returned to the castle, Alexia feeling rather empty. Hari and her parted in the entrance hall and Alexia made her way not to the common room but instead headed up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.  
  
He had said she could feel free to stop by anytime she wanted or needed to talk and this was one of those times. Alexia knocked softly on the door and heard a voice inside echo 'come in' so she pushed the door open.  
  
Alexia had been here before, but was too freaked out about her enlarged face to really care much what the office looked like. She looked in amazement at the pure beauty and elegance of the large room. She looked at all the books on their shelves and saw the sorting hat setting on one of the highest shelves. She looked at the desk and saw Dumbledore standing there, smiling at her.  
  
"Hello, Alexia," he said smiling at her.  
  
"Hi Professor," she said, grinning.  
  
Dumbledore stood from behind his desk and moved towards her.  
  
"Is there something that I can do for you?" he asked kindly looking at her.  
  
She shrugged and she sat in a chair and Dumbledore sat nearby.  
  
"It's just.it feels weird not being with my family for Christmas.yet, it was my idea to stay here," said Alexia, struggling to string the words together.  
  
"You wish to return home?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
Alexia looked up at him. He was watching her with interest, and she suddenly felt empty.  
  
"I don't know," she said, "I'm scared to leave."  
  
Dumbledore nodded and Alexia twiddled with her thumbs. She felt embarrassed to be talking to freely to Dumbledore. She looked up and then back down, concentrating on the floor.  
  
"You are afraid that your family will see a lot of change in you?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
Alexia looked up. He smiled at her and she slowly nodded.  
  
"My dear Alexia, change is very normal in people your age. You are at probably the point in your life when if happens the most," he said.  
  
"I guess." said Alexia, looking down, "But I'm just afraid I'll be a different person when I go home.and no one will recognize me."  
  
Dumbledore nodded and took out a large chocolate bar. He offered her a very large piece and she nibbled at it slowly.  
  
"You see, Alexia," said Dumbledore, "People may at first be surprised at home much you have matured in such a short time, but in reality they enjoy watching you develop and grow from the person you were as a child."  
  
Alexia nodded and Dumbledore smiled.  
  
"I have been watching your progress in classes over the last few months, Alexia, and I am pleased to say that you are doing very well," he said.  
  
She looked up at him and grinned.  
  
"Really? I mean I thought I knew some of the stuff," she said, "But I didn't think I was doing very well."  
  
"You are doing wonderfully, Alexia," he said, "Even in potions."  
  
He winked at her and she smiled.  
  
"And your Father has informed me that he is probably going to stop by during Christmas," he continued.  
  
"Oh yeah," said Alexia, "He said he'd try."  
  
Dumbledore rose from his desk and surveyed Alexia.  
  
"You are his youngest child," said Dumbledore, "Of course he'll stop by for Christmas."  
  
Alexia stood up and looked at Dumbledore. She had an urge to hug him, but stopped herself and instead smiled.  
  
"Thank you, Professor," she said, "I feel better now."  
  
Dumbledore set his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"No trouble at all," he said, "Anytime you need to talk, I'm here."  
  
Alexia smiled and exited the office, thinking about what Dumbledore had said.  
  
She had reached the library and wasn't watching where she was going when all of a suddenly she ran right into someone. There was a yell and the dull thud of several falling books. Alexia stood up and looked down to see Linnea lying on the floor. Alexia froze for a moment as Linnea glared at her. She started to pick up her books and when Alexia tried to help, Linnea pushed her hand away.  
  
"I don't need your help," snarled Linnea.  
  
Alexia stopped.  
  
"Sorry," she said, "I didn't see you."  
  
"Oh, I see," said Linnea, "Not good enough to see someone in Gryffindor, hm?"  
  
"You know that's not." started Alexia but Linnea broke in again.  
  
"You know, maybe if you didn't let your ego get so out of control maybe you'd have more friends," snapped Linnea, turning and walking away.  
  
"Linnea, damn it wait!" yelled Alexia as she ran after Linnea.  
  
She followed her until she reached the portrait to the Gryffindor common room. Linnea then turned and glared at Alexia.  
  
"Leave me alone, I don't want to talk to you," she said shortly.  
  
"Linnea, shut the hell up for one bloody second and listen to me!" snapped Alexia.  
  
Linnea stopped. She looked at Alexia and frowned.  
  
"You've got a minute," Linnea muttered.  
  
"I'm sorry," blurted Alexia, "I didn't mean to make such a big deal out of Quidditch and the match and all that, you just upset me.I didn't mean it."  
  
Linnea turned towards the portrait and walked inside. Alexia tried to follow but it snapped shut.  
  
"Password?" asked the Fat Lady.  
  
"Forget it." muttered Alexia, storming off.  
  
She made it back to the Hufflepuff common room where Lorelei was sitting in a chair, reading a book. Alexia stormed by, heading to the dormitory. Lorelei looked up and watched her.  
  
"Lex?" she asked, hearing the pounding of feet up the stairs, "Lex, hey! What's wrong?"  
  
Lorelei dropped her book and ran up the stairs.  
  
Alexia threw her cloak onto the floor and laid face down on her bed. Lorelei entered the room and gave her sort of a cautious glance.  
  
"Lex.?" she said timidly.  
  
Suddenly Alexia started screaming into her pillow. Lorelei jumped backwards and stood their until five minutes later Alexia sat up and looked at her.  
  
"What happened?" Lorelei whispered.  
  
"Linnea, stupid little." but she couldn't finish her sentence.  
  
She was so angry that the words just froze inside of her. She was breathing fast, could hear her pulse in her temples and shook her head.  
  
"I tried to apologize to her," muttered Alexia, looking down, "But she won't listen."  
  
Her voice cracked and tears started to seep into the corners of her eyes. She looked up at Lorelei, who just stood there, shocked to see her crying.  
  
"What were you fighting about?" asked Lorelei.  
  
"Something stupid," said Alexia shortly, "Something about Quidditch.I don't know, but I said I was sorry and she just stormed off."  
  
Lorelei nodded and moved to her trunk. She pulled out some chocolate frogs and threw one to her. She opened it and found Mad-Eye Moody on it. She tucked the card in her pocket and looked down as she bit the frog's head off.  
  
"Maybe Linnea just wants to be alone," suggested Lorelei, trying to look on the bright side, "It's probably not you, she just wants to be alone."  
  
Alexia nodded. She had tried to make things up, she had tried.but it wasn't her fault Linnea was being stubborn, she'd just have to wait this out.  
  
The next week flew by. Alexia and Lorelei were having a lot of fun considering they spent most of the time in the common room. Since there were few others around, they invited Hari in and they all talked together while playing wizard chess, something that Hari and Lorelei were good at, but Alexia sucked.  
  
Before they knew it, it was Christmas Eve, and as they sat in the common room, Alexia pulled a present out from underneath her chair.  
  
"Hey, Lorelei?" she asked.  
  
Lorelei looked and Alexia handed her the present. Lorelei looked up and then back down at the present.  
  
"You didn't." she started.  
  
"Just open it," Alexia said.  
  
Lorelei nodded and opened the package. Inside was an oak frame and on the inside was a picture of the two of them from a Quidditch match earlier that year. Lorelei looked at it and then up at Alexia, who was smiling.  
  
"It's beautiful," said Lorelei, hugging her, "Thank you."  
  
"I didn't have much money this year, so I got the same thing for everyone." Said Alexia shyly.  
  
"Well it's wonderful," said Lorelei, smiling again, "Thank you."  
  
Alexia smiled as Lorelei picked up a package next to her chair.  
  
"It just arrived today, so I didn't have time wrap it," she explained, handing Alexia the rather heavy package.  
  
"What is it?" asked Alexia.  
  
Lorelei smiled.  
  
"Just open it," she urged.  
  
Alexia ripped away the paper and found a large, leather bound book, with gold writing on the front, Fantastic Quidditch Teams of Europe. Alexia grinned and flipped through the pages. It was full of team names, the plays, and all sorts of information about the teams.  
  
"Wow," whispered Alexia, looking up at Lorelei, "This is great."  
  
Alexia flipped through the pages and noticed that there were more teams out there than she could have ever imagined.  
  
That night they retreated to the dorm room about 12:00 midnight, but Alexia found it very hard to sleep. She lay there for hours just thinking. Her Father said he was going to try and come see her tomorrow, but would he actually come? Dumbledore had said he most definitely would, but how sure could Dumbledore be? How could he know what her Father was going to do?  
  
Before she knew it she was waking up the next morning, to the sound of Lorelei opening her presents. She pushed open the hangings of her bed and looked at Lorelei. She was already sitting in a pile of candy, robes and many other things.  
  
"Happy Christmas!" said Lorelei brightly.  
  
Alexia shook herself.  
  
"Happy Christmas," she muttered sleepily, looking to the foot of her bed.  
  
She had a pile of presents, smaller than Lorelei's but still she was happy. She noticed one on the top that had her name and Hogwarts on it. Her face lit up.  
  
"It came," she said happily, grabbing the present.  
  
"What's that?" asked Lorelei, eating some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.  
  
"Linnea's gift," said Alexia happily, tossing it onto the bed.  
  
"Oh," said Lorelei, opening another box.  
  
Alexia sat down and started on hers. From Gavin she got a crystal statue of a fox which he had made and looked very beautiful. Her aunt, Melissa, had sent her a large box full of goodies from chocolate frogs to dungbombs, telling her not to inform her Father that she had sent them. Breena and Hari had given her a watch unlike one she had ever seen before and she stared at it for a while.  
  
It had four hands on it; each engraved with the name of one of her family members including her own. The one with her name had a picture of her, yawning and rubbing her eyes that pointed at 'school'. The other three were Brent, Gavin and Ruby, each at a different place. Gavin's was pointed at 'work', Ruby's was pointed at 'home' and her Father's was pointed at 'traveling'. Alexia smiled when she saw her Father's was pointed at traveling. Maybe he was on his way.  
  
She opened the letter that was enclosed with the watch.  
  
Happy Christmas Lex,  
  
I had the idea that since you missed your family to get this for you, so you can know where they are when you're not around. Hari and I figured it'd be a good gift for you. I hope you like it.  
  
Hope you guys have been having fun (not too much) at school while we're all gone. I'll see ya in a week or so.  
  
Breena  
  
Alexia smiled and kept looking at the watch. It was so pretty and so different to look at.  
  
"Oh!" said Lorelei, seeing the watch, "Wow, who sent you that?"  
  
"Hari and Breena," said Alexia softly.  
  
"It's beautiful," said Lorelei, "I've never seen on like that before.it's amazing."  
  
They finished opening their presents and Alexia was a little upset to find that she didn't even receive a card from her Father.  
  
"I'm sure there's a good reason," said Lorelei, reassuringly as they headed down to lunch in the Great Hall.  
  
"Yeah right," Alexia spat bitterly, "What, he fell off a roof somewhere?"  
  
Lorelei shrugged and they entered the Great Hall and saw that they only have one table. Dumbledore was seated at the far end, as well as Professor McGonagall and Snape. There were also three Gryffindor students, including Linnea, who was sitting silently near McGonagall. Hari sat alone and waved when they entered.  
  
"Hey!" she called out.  
  
Alexia smiled and ran forward. She handed Hari her present and she smiled.  
  
"Did you get mine?" she asked.  
  
Alexia nodded.  
  
"It's wonderful," she said, smiling as Hari's eyes lit up.  
  
"Oh, I knew you'd love it!" gasped Hari, "C'mon let's sit down."  
  
They sat across from Hades and Fe; both were forced to stay behind for the holiday. Fe was whispered quickly to Hades, whose lips curled into an evil smile.  
  
"I don't trust them," whispered Lorelei.  
  
"They won't do anything in front of Dumbledore," hissed Hari.  
  
Alexia nodded and Dumbledore smiled at her. She grinned back and looked at Linnea, who was starring blankly at her plate. She doubted if her parents had sent her any presents for Christmas, and she felt awful.  
  
"I'll be back," said Alexia, standing and leaving her seat.  
  
She pulled Linnea's present out of her robes and looked at her.  
  
"Here," she said, reaching Linnea and handing her the package.  
  
"What's this?" asked Linnea.  
  
"Just open it," said Alexia.  
  
Linnea did so and it revealed a box that had a chessboard and the bold words "Wizard Chess" written on it. Linnea looked up in shock.  
  
"Oh wow," she muttered, looking up, "Lex.I'm."  
  
"It's okay," Alexia said, smiling, "I understand why you were mad."  
  
Linnea stood up and hugged her. Tears started to trickle down her face and Linnea sighed.  
  
"I got you something too," said Linnea.  
  
Alexia opened it to find a book that had "Which Broom is right for you?" scrawled on the front. She smiled.  
  
"Thanks, Linnea," she said.  
  
Linnea came and sat with her and the others and they ate the wonderful Christmas meal. Afterwards they sat there talking for a while, until Dumbledore walked up to Alexia.  
  
"Could I see you for a moment." He said, smiling.  
  
Alexia nodded and they left the Great Hall.  
  
They stopped just outside the Great Hall and Dumbledore looked at her.  
  
"I have something for you," he said softly.  
  
She looked up and blinked at him.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"Just follow me," said Dumbledore, as he continued to walk.  
  
As they walked thoughts filled her head. Maybe he was going to tell her she was going to be expelled.her stomach flipped into a horrible knot and then relaxed. Dumbledore would ever do that; she had quite good grades. Maybe he had something to give her.her heart sank.but he was the headmaster of the school, he wouldn't just give her a random present.  
  
She kept thinking and then all of a sudden a thought flashed into her mind. Her Father, he had said he was going to try and stop by school over Christmas. Her Father was in Dumbledore's office, waiting for her, right now!  
  
She grinned and they reached Dumbledore's door and he pushed it open. They walked inside and she looked around excitedly, but found no one else except for them inside his office. Her face dropped and she felt her heart crashing into pieces.  
  
"Now, Alexia," said Dumbledore, walking over his desk, "You're probably wondering why you're here."  
  
She nodded slowly, trying not to look so downcast.  
  
"Well, I received an owl this morning from your father." started Dumbledore.  
  
She looked up quickly; maybe there was still hope.  
  
"He wanted me to inform you that his work has kept him from visiting," Dumbledore finished.  
  
Alexia's face dropped again. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes again.  
  
"He did, however, send a package along," said Dumbledore, picking something large off the floor behind his desk.  
  
He set it in front of Alexia and she looked up. No matter what it was, she would have rather had her Father there for Christmas with her instead.  
  
Dumbledore smiled and she unwrapped the present to reveal a long, thin, brown box. She lifted the top and found a Comet 700 lying in the box. She had no reaction. She simply looked at the broom, gave a feeble smile, and then replaced the top. She looked down at the floor and sighed.  
  
"Alexia?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
She wasn't listening. She glanced at the watch on her wrist and noticed the hand with 'Brent' engraved on it was still pointed at traveling.  
  
"Alexia?" repeated Dumbledore.  
  
She looked up, a few tears staining her cheeks.  
  
"I know it's upsetting to not see your Father on Christmas," said Dumbledore, "But he said he would make it up to you."  
  
She scowled at Dumbledore.  
  
"How?" she spat bitterly.  
  
"I'm not sure," said Dumbledore, "But your Father is true to his word, and he was very sorry he couldn't make it today."  
  
"So work's more important than me now?" she snarled.  
  
Dumbledore looked at her over his hands.  
  
"I understand why you're mad," said Dumbledore.  
  
"No you don't!" snapped Alexia, "He was never truly there for me.he just pretended to be."  
  
She looked back down at the ground and Dumbledore set a piece of parchment on the broom.  
  
"You may leave," said Dumbledore, but the tone of his voice seemed to be telling her to leave other than suggesting.  
  
She snatched the package and the parchment and took off to the Hufflepuff common room. She pulled herself through the portrait and then straight up to the dorm room. She threw the box on the bed and then sat down on her trunk, sobbing into her robes.  
  
She looked through her fingers and at the still sealed parchment lying on the floor at her feet. She looked at it and noticed it was addressed to her, not Dumbledore, and hadn't been opened. She carefully opened it and read it.  
  
Dearest Alexia,  
  
I'm so sorry I couldn't have come to Hogwarts for Christmas to be with you. I tried my hardest to get out of work, but very pressing investigations have been keeping me away. I'm very upset and you, Gavin, and I will all be spending Christmas apart this year.  
  
I hope school is going well, and you've made loads of new friends. I'm so proud of what you've accomplished and I hope you learn loads more. You have the strong blood of a Malfoy in you, my child, and you will make us proud.  
  
I do hope you get a chance to fly the broom soon. They said is a very good broom for a beater (a possession Dumbledore tells me you are very good at).  
  
Enjoy the rest of your year and please write often.  
  
All My Love,  
  
Dad  
  
She smiled slightly and read it again. She touched the broom and suddenly felt all the hatred leaving her. She folded the letter up and put it in her trunk and headed down to the common room, where Lorelei challenged her to a game of chess.  
  
Alexia was starting to like chess less and less. While Lorelei was easily able to tell the pieces what to do, Alexia's seemed reluctant to listen to her commands. By the end Alexia had only taken three of Lorelei's pawns, but Lorelei had ended up winning.  
  
After several hours they grew boards and began to talk about their lives at home more. Around 1 AM, Lorelei dozed off to sleep and Alexia levitated her to the dorm room, and finally climbed into her bed. She watched the ceiling and then looked at the picture of her family on the bedside table and smiled. She definitely didn't like Christmas away from home. 


	11. Unexpected Meeting

Chapter Ten  
Unexpected Meeting  
  
The Christmas break ended smoothly and before Alexia and Lorelei could clean up their wrapping paper, the Hufflepuff common room was full of people shouting and playing once again. Alexia often found herself escaping to the owlery for some peace and quiet. She loved the common room, but sometimes it was just too noisy.  
  
One night, around midnight, she crept out of the door of the common room and escaped to the owlery. She closed the door and looked around. She wasn't alone; there was someone else here.  
  
She ducked behind a large pile of straw and froze there. The person turned their head quickly and looked around.  
  
"Hello?" asked the voice.  
  
She didn't move. If she stayed quiet enough, she could sneak out when the person was gone. The person seemed to be looking around room and suddenly Alexia felt something tapping the inside of her head.  
  
"Lex?" it asked.  
  
Alexia jumped to her feet. That voice had come from within the room, it had come from within her own head.  
  
Suddenly the other person raced from the owlery, and Alexia couldn't even see where they went. By the time she could poke her head out of the door she heard something mewing at her feet. She looked down to see an owl cat looking up at her. It was Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris.  
  
"Oh no," muttered Alexia.  
  
The cat shot out of the doorway and down the hall. Alexia froze. She'd never make it to the common room in time, but she'd have to try.  
  
She bolted down the stairs, trying to ran as fast as she could to the common room, but she tripped on a stair and landed right on her right arm, which gave way with a sickening crack. Pain shot through her arm and tears flooded her eyes. The pain was so intense that she was able to move for several seconds. Finally she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and on her upper body.  
  
"Filch is coming," Alexia muttered.  
  
The voice swore under its breath. Alexia could feel the ground beneath her moving as she was being dragged on the ground.  
  
"Gum drops," the voice said.  
  
She was pulled over something and then the room was dark. Alexia blinked several times and the room started to clear.  
  
"Where are we? Whispered Alexia.  
  
She turned and saw a boy sitting near her. He raised his finger to his lips and she nodded. They could hear Filch's voice outside, cursing loudly that the student had disappeared. The voice faded and Alexia looked over at the boy sitting next to her. She had never seen him before.  
  
He looked about 5' 9" with long black hair that fell down onto his shoulders. His skin was very tan and he had gray eyes with flecks of brown in them. His eyes were narrowed at the door, watching for a moment. He was very slim and Alexia noticed a Ravenclaw patch on her robes. Questions flooded her brain, wondering who this kid was, and why he had helped her for no reason.  
  
After several minutes the boy looked over at her.  
  
"You okay?" he asked.  
  
She went to move her right arm and cried softly in pain.  
  
"Waddya do?" he asked, pushing back the sleeve of her robe.  
  
"Fell," said Alexia.  
  
She felt rather embarrassed having fallen down the stairs under her own free will.  
  
"Cuz you were runnin' from Filch?" asked the boy.  
  
She nodded and he pulled out his wand. He muttered a spell and a splint appeared around her arm. She looked up at him.  
  
"You're just going to leave it?" she asked.  
  
"For now," he said, grinning, "But Madame Pomfrey knows how to mend bones better than I do."  
  
The boy led Alexia to the Hospital Wing, where luckily Madame Pomfrey was attending to another student. She smiled as the boy entered into the room.  
  
"What are you doing here so late, Scott?" she asked, not seem mad at all, but rather curious.  
  
"Found Filch chasing down another student," he said, pushing Alexia forward.  
  
She had never met Madame Pomfrey before, but she smiled kindly at Alexia and touched her arm.  
  
"Broken?" she asked, eyeing Scott.  
  
"She fell, snapped it right in two," he explained, looking around the Hospital wing at a student who looked like they had taken a bad curse.  
  
Madame Pomfrey nodded and took out her wand. She muttered something and suddenly Alexia's arm felt much better. Pomfrey removed the splint and asked her to flex her fingers and stretch her hand.  
  
"Everything seems to be in order," said Pomfrey, smiling, "Does it hurt at all?"  
  
Alexia shook her head.  
  
"What's your name, dear?" Pomfrey asked.  
  
"Alexia Malfoy," she muttered.  
  
Pomfrey nodded and handed her a chocolate frog and a pink slip of paper.  
  
"Well, make sure Scott here takes your straight to be, you hear me?" Pomfrey shot a glance at Scott with these words. "I've saved your skin too many times to do it again. Next time I'll just let you fry."  
  
Scott rolled his eyes and Alexia thanked Pomfrey as they left.  
  
"Batty old woman," muttered Scott.  
  
"Why did you help me?" asked Alexia.  
  
Scott looked at her and smiled.  
  
"That's what I do, mate," said Scott, "I help people who need it, and believe me, you needed it."  
  
Alexia grinned a little and ate some of the chocolate frog. Scott checked his watch.  
  
"Damn it," he muttered, "It's nearly 2 AM. C'mon, ya gotta get back."  
  
They started to run down the hall and when they reached the door to the common room Scott smiled.  
  
"By the way, I'm Scott, Scott Lencher," he extended his hand, "I'm in Ravenclaw, 3rd year."  
  
"Alexia.well.Lex Malfoy," she said, smiling, "Hufflepuff," she chuckled, "Obviously, first year."  
  
Scott laughed and yawned.  
  
"You're not too bad, kid," said Scott, turning around, "See ya around."  
  
He walked out of sight and Alexia stood there smiling. She couldn't believe all this, it had come so unexpectedly and she had met another person. As she climbed through the portal she reminded herself to asked Hari and Breena about him the next day in class. 


	12. Scott Lencher

Chapter Eleven  
  
Scott Lencher  
  
The next morning came all too quickly and before she knew it, Parvati was tapping her on the face.  
  
"Get up, we overslept," she grunted, looking very tired.  
  
Alexia looked over at her clock. It was 9:15; she was already 15 minutes late for Charms. Parvati seemed to have overslept as well, as she tried in vain to flatten her hair, Alexia pulled on her shoes and they bolted out the door.  
  
They arrived to class ten minutes later, both receiving a detention.  
  
"I'm sorry ladies, but it'd been an entire term, you should know by now," said Flitwick writing down their names on a ledger.  
  
Alexia sat between Parvati and Lorelei, with Hari and Breena in front of her. She saw Hari waving and Breena smiling.  
  
During the lesson they practiced a Dusting charm. Feeling very tired, Alexia pretended to be asking Breena for help, when instead she was talking about the previous night. After telling them the whole thing, Hari smiled.  
  
"You met Scott Lencher?" asked Hari.  
  
Alexia nodded and Hari grinned wider.  
  
"He hardly talks to anyone!" she gasped, "Sits all by himself in the common room, reading. I've only seen him talk to Dan, which isn't very often."  
  
"He was quite nice," said Alexia as she pointed her wand at the dust and it flew into the air with a small pouf.  
  
"You're doing it wrong, Lex," said Breena, rolling her eyes.  
  
She lazily moved her wand in a circular motion and the dust made a sphere and she dropped it into the basket.  
  
"Show off," muttered Lorelei behind Alexia.  
  
"So, he took you to Pomfrey to get fixed up?" asked Hari, sending her dust flying onto the floor.  
  
"Yeah, he didn't actually introduce himself until he got to my common room," Alexia said but Breena cut in.  
  
"He walked you to the Hufflepuff Common room?" asked Breena. "Talk about a gentle man."  
  
Hari laughed and Breena looked over her shoulder. Dan was a couple of tables down from them, trying feebly to move his dust pile.  
  
"Dan," she hissed.  
  
He looked up.  
  
"What?" he asked, sounding rather disgruntled.  
  
"Come here for a second," Breena muttered.  
  
Dan shot the dust off the desk and went to go clean it up. As he knelt on the floor he looked at Breena.  
  
"Waddya want?" Dan asked.  
  
"You know Scott Lencher, right?" asked Hari.  
  
Dan looked up and narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Yeah, why?" he asked, sounding very untrusting.  
  
"He helped Lex last night. She had a nasty fall," said Breena.  
  
"Ya break something?" asked Dan.  
  
"My arm," Alexia explained, "He took me to see Pomfrey."  
  
"Well Pomfrey is his Grandmother." Dan said, sounding as though it was something very obvious.  
  
"Oh, wait, what?" asked Hari.  
  
"Madame Pomfrey, it's Scott's grandmother," said Dan again, "Geeze don't you listen?"  
  
"Bite me," muttered Hari under her breath, but Dan didn't hear.  
  
"He's always in the Hospital Wing late at night," said Dan, "Gets food and stuff from him grandma. She's really nice to him, but she hates how he always gets in trouble."  
  
"So he's go connections?" asked Breena.  
  
"Yeah to the wizarding Mafia," Dan said sarcastically, "God you make it sound like he's killing or something."  
  
"But he's in with Pomfrey?" asked Alexia.  
  
Dan nodded.  
  
"He can get a note to get out of anything," said Dan, "Really handy is you want to ditch a class."  
  
"Are you four even trying to do this spell?" fumed Professor Flitwick.  
  
They looked up and noticed that no one was doing the spell anymore but simply watching them. Alexia gave a sheepish grin and returned to her seat.  
  
Before leaving class, Parvati and Alexia talked to Flitwick about their detention. He had assigned them to helping clean out bedpans in the Hospital wing.  
  
"Can you believe this?" fumed Parvati, "Without Magic? WITHOUT MAGIC! He's insane! I'm getting a doctors note!"  
  
"And what's it gunna say?" asked Alexia, "Parvati is allergic to icky things? It won't be that bad."  
  
They entered the Great Hall later that afternoon, Parvati still complaining about their detention. They sat down and Venefica rolled her eyes.  
  
"I've honestly heard of people getting much worse," she said.  
  
"Like who?" spat Parvati.  
  
"My brother, Alex," said Lorelei, "He was to help Snape clean his classroom once, it was awful! He did smell right for a week."  
  
Alexia helped herself to a sandwich and wandered over by Breena and Hari. Moments later, Linnea walked over and sat next to her.  
  
"I hear ya almost got caught by Filch last night," Linnea murmured.  
  
Alexia glared at the others sitting around her.  
  
"Who blabbed?" she demanded.  
  
Hari shook her head and Linnea chuckled.  
  
"God, you're jumpy," she said, "Breena told me today."  
  
Alexia glared at her.  
  
"What?" Breena asked, "You can't honestly tell me you weren't going to tell her."  
  
Alexia was at a loss for words, until Linnea jabbed her in the ribs.  
  
"Here he comes," she muttered.  
  
Sure enough Alexia saw Scott and Dan enter the Great Hall. Scott kept his head down mostly and Dan seemed to be doing all the talking. Scott nodded every so often, but other than that appeared to say nothing. He walked past and Breena nodded.  
  
"Not bad," Breena commented, "Nice choice."  
  
"What are you talking about?" asked Alexia, taking a drink of her juice.  
  
"Oh c'mon!" said Hari, "It's obvious you like him!"  
  
Alexia spit juice out all over the table in shock at this comment.  
  
"Pardon?" she asked, "Did you just say I like him?"  
  
"Duh!" said Hari, smiling, "But he's not a bad choice."  
  
Alexia rolled her eyes and Scott went walking very quickly out of the Great Hall.  
  
"I've met him once," she said, "Geeze, I'm not interested!"  
  
She grabbed her things and at that stormed from the Great Hall. Linnea, Breena and Hari exchanged confused looks.  
  
"Nice one, Hari," muttered Linnea.  
  
"What did I do?" snapped Hari; "I was just saying what I thought! Is that a crime?"  
  
Linnea rolled her eyes and walked off to the Gryffindor table as Hari returned to her meal.  
  
Alexia stormed out of the Great Hall and went up down the stairs. She turned a corner and slammed into someone. She sighed and looked up, apologizing quickly. She looked up to see Scott looked down at her.  
  
"Ya might want to slow down," he said, handing her a book and walking away.  
  
Alexia looked up and saw him half way down the hall.  
  
"Scott, wait!" she yelled.  
  
He turned around and looked over at Alexia as she dashed down the hall.  
  
"What?" he asked, leaning again the wall.  
  
Alexia stopped and looked at him. She suddenly just realized she had nothing to say.  
  
"Erm,well,I just wanted to thank you," said Alexia.  
  
"For what?" asked Scott, looking very oblivious to anything around him.  
  
"For helping me," she said, "Last night?"  
  
Scott squinted a bit and smiled.  
  
"Oy! You are the girl from last night, Alexia, right?" he asked.  
  
Alexia nodded.  
  
"Sorry bout that, don't normally remember faces too well." He said, scratching his head.  
  
"It's okay," said Alexia smiling, "It's just I never thanked you properly."  
  
"Well now ya did," he said, smiling, "And it's not a problem."  
  
He turned and stopped. Alexia was still standing there. He turned and looked at her.  
  
"Can I talk to you?" he asked.  
  
Alexia blinked several times. She had heard that Scott was one of the shyest boys at Hogwarts and she had only met him once. And now he wanted to talk? She didn't know what to make of this. He looked at her and she slowly nodded.  
  
They started to walk down the empty hall, Scott had his hands in his pockets and Alexia was trying to think of something to say, but she didn't have to worry about that.  
  
"Ya know my first year here was hell," said Scott, looking down at Alexia, "I spent all of my days trying to find friends and never did my homework. I didn't take it seriously, I just lived like everyday was my last."  
  
They wandered past the Great Hall and Alexia saw Breena and Hari emerge. Hari looked at her and looked triumphant, as though she had won something. Alexia blushed and turned around, as Scott looked at her.  
  
"You're friends think you like me?" he asked.  
  
"How'd ya guess?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Dan told me earlier today in the common room," he said, smiling, "Personally I don't believe them, you don't seem like the kind of girl who'd fall for someone like me."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Alexia, feel offened.  
  
"You just don't seem like the kind of person who would fall for a guy; you're smarter than that," said Scott, smiling.  
  
They walked off and onto the grounds. The snow crunched beneath their feet and Scott started to talk again.  
  
"In my first year another boy from Hufflepuff was awful to me. He tricked me and did all sorts of mean things, said I was a rotten brat and a bastard to boot. I tried to defend myself, but ya know how these things are," said Scott, "Finally one day I just decided that maybe if I am as quiet as possible and only trust a few I could make it through school. So that's what I did. I pretended that I didn't exist. I only talked to a few people in the common room, and I almost never talked to people outside the common room. I've never stopped since."  
  
Alexia stopped in her tracks and looked at him.  
  
"So why are you telling me this?" she asked.  
  
Scott started to laugh.  
  
"You're a trip, ya know that?" he said, laughing still and walking away.  
  
"I'm serious," she said; "Here you are saying that you want to be as quiet and possible and yet at the same time you're telling me your life story. Why are you telling this to me?"  
  
Scott stopped laughing and he looked at her. He moved closer to her and she looked up at him in fear.  
  
"Because there is something special about you," said Scott, "You're not like every stupid girl in this school, you're not so immature, you're act more like my age than you do like an 11 year old."  
  
He smiled and looked at her.  
  
"So what about you?" he asked.  
  
"Waddya mean?" she asked as he backed away.  
  
"Everyone says you're, I dunno, fun loving and just free, how you do you do it?" asked Scott.  
  
"Well, I dunno, I wouldn't really say I'm fun loving," said Alexia, "I just make the most of my time. I'm not afraid to be heard, I guess."  
  
Scott smiled.  
  
"You'll find it's hard to stay that way," he said, "Trust me."  
  
They walked a little more, chatting lightly about their families and random stuff like that. Scott was surprised that Alexia had divorced parents ("You're normal considering what you went through."). Before she knew it the sun was dipping below the horizon and she said good-bye.  
  
"Look," said Scott before she got too far off, "I don't want people to take this the wrong way. We're just friends, nothing else."  
  
Alexia grinned and chuckled slightly.  
  
"I know," she said, walking off.  
  
"See ya later," Scott said.  
  
Alexia reached the common room soon after and entered to see that the others were sitting near the fire. She walked over and Parvati looked at her.  
  
"So where have you been?" she asked angrily.  
  
Alexia blinked several times and looked at her.  
  
"Walking, why?" she asked.  
  
"With Scott," hissed Parvati, Alexia could see her eyes were full of tears, "How could you?"  
  
Parvati threw her books on the ground and Alexia looked at Venefica and Lorelei.  
  
"What was that about?" she asked, sitting down.  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" asked Venefica.  
  
Alexia shook her head.  
  
"Unless I missed something," she started but Lorelei cut in.  
  
"Obviously you did," said Lorelei, "Parvati likes Scott, she has since we got here."  
  
"She likes him?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Duh!" said Venefica.  
  
"I didn't know," said Alexia, "I had no idea!"  
  
"Yeah right," said Venefica.  
  
Alexia was shaking with anger when she heard someone sigh. Verity sat on the far side, shaking her head at them.  
  
"Seriously, this is ridiculous," said Verity, "I saw Lex and him walking outside, they were just talking."  
  
"How do you know?" asked Venefica.  
  
"Cuz I saw them!" yelled Verity, "Geeze! You guys need to be more trusting!"  
  
Verity stormed out of the common room and Alexia sunk even lower into her chair.  
  
"Look, just tell Parvati you don't like him!" exclaimed Lorelei, "That'll take care of everything."  
  
"I don't think that's the problem," said Alexia.  
  
"How come?" asked Venefica.  
  
"I think i likes i," said Alexia, looking up. 


	13. Poisonous Potions Master

Chapter Twelve  
Poisonous Potion Master  
  
"Lex, it's three cups of powdered mandrake roots, not four," hissed Venefica.  
  
Alexia quickly looked down to see her Deflating Draught, which should have been blue was now bright green. She sighed and looked at the board. Of course Venefica was right, she had a photographic memory.  
  
"And what, Ms. Malfoy, is this?" asked Snape, who had chosen this exact moment to sweep over to her cauldron.  
  
She could hear the Slytherins whispering excitedly behind her. She frowned and looked up at Snape, who was baring down on her like a panther ready to attack.  
  
"It's my Deflating Draught, sir," said Alexia, anger swelling inside of her, "I thought you'd know that considering you're the one who assigned it."  
  
Snape looked shocked and the classroom was suddenly very silent. Alexia wished she could have taken those words back, but it was too late.  
  
"Twenty points from Hufflepuff for your lack of respect, Malfoy!" spat Snape, "And a weeks worth of detention as well."  
  
He swept away and as he did made her potion disappear. She frowned and started to pack away her things.  
  
It had been like this for the past three weeks, and slowly the snow was beginning to melt from the grounds and they could tell spring was coming. Ever since they got back to lessons, Snape had been awful to her. Not to mention Alexia had to with stand a gruling five hours a week earlier with Parvati, who was positively livid with her, and would often laugh when she sprayed cleaner all over her.  
  
She sat there and Venefica looked at her.  
  
"You need to pay better attention to what you're doing," she said as she picked up her bag and the bell sounded.  
  
"Malfoy, we need to arrange your punishment," snapped Snape.  
  
Venefica looked at her.  
  
"I'll catch up," said Alexia, turning around.  
  
She walked over to Snape's desk and he glared at her.  
  
"I would've expected better behavior from you, Malfoy," he said, scrawling down Alexia's name and the date of her detention, "They start tomorrow, in my office, seven sharp."  
  
"Yes sir," said Alexia, taking the slip and turning towards the door.  
  
"And you'll need to do an extra essay about where you went wrong on your Deflating Draught this afternoon," he snapped.  
  
Lex sighed.  
  
"Yes Professor," she said, leaving the room.  
  
She dragged her feet up the stairs and into the Great Hall.  
  
It had been a month since the second term started and she was starting to hate her classes more and more, and when she wasn't spending time trying to finish her mountains of homework, she was usually sitting near the fire, so tired she could barely move. After a very slow Transfigurations class, she stumbled to Charms with Breena at her side.  
  
"Are you sure you're getting enough sleep?" she asked.  
  
Alexia yawned loudly and nodded.  
  
"Yeah, yeah," she said.  
  
Breena looked confused.  
  
"Lex?" she asked.  
  
She looked up and Breena shook her head.  
  
"Maybe you should go to the Hufflepuff common room or something," she muttered, "You look awful."  
  
Alexia yawned and walked up to Professor Flitwick and he took one look at her and excused her from class. She grabbed her things and stumbled up the stairs to the common room but before she could get to the dorm, she fell asleep in one of the armchairs.  
  
She had the oddest dream. She was sitting the middle of the lake on the castle grounds, standing on the water, watching the fish swim below her feet. She saw Breena, Hari, Linnea and Lorelei running around the grassy lawn of Hogwarts, laughing and yelling. She took started to run across the water, and she ran as if on solid ground. But a few feet before shore she took a step and began to fall deep into the water. As she sank, she saw her friends looking down at her.  
  
"Help me!" she yelled.  
  
Linnea reached out but before she knew it, she hit solid ground.  
  
She opened her eyes and saw she was at home, in her Father's study. He was writing quickly on a piece or parchment when Gavin came in.  
  
"Dinner's ready, Dad," he said.  
  
Their Father didn't reply.  
  
"Dad?" asked Gavin.  
  
"I'm much too busy son," said their Father, who hadn't stopped writing, "I have to get this owl out."  
  
"Dad, they'll understand." started Gavin, but their Father cut him off.  
  
"This may just be a misunderstanding, but if I don't clear it up terrible things."  
  
The light faded and Alexia began to fall again.  
  
"Dad!" she yelled, reaching out, but the room faded from view.  
  
She fell on her back this time and opened her eyes. She was in a small plush bedroom, with a small girl sitting on a bed, her red hair hung in front of her face as she sobbed into her hands. She could hear screaming coming from outside the room and the scared little girl pulled a pillow over her head. Alexia knew this girl and as she reached out she began to fall once more.  
  
She was now in a different room, a dark and smelly cell in a prison when her feet hit the ground hard. A tall, thin man with blond hair sat in the corner, mumbling to himself.  
  
"Stupid mudblood, trying to soil my family name," he growled.  
  
She paused. Suddenly this didn't seem so much like a dream. She moved towards him and felt cold rushing through her body. She stopped after a few steps and the man looked up. His gray eyes burned into his.  
  
"MUDBLOOD FILTH!" he yelled.  
  
"Lex!" yelled a voice.  
  
Her eyes flew open and she looked around. She was covered with sweat and a slight hint of sweat was on her back. She was breathing fast and looked around. She could see there was a slight hint of light in the common room.  
  
"I have my detention with Snape tonight," she muttered distractedly as she looked around the room.  
  
She looked up and saw Lorelei looking down at her; she had obviously just woken up.  
  
"You all right?" asked Lorelei.  
  
"What time is it?' asked Alexia.  
  
"Six in the morning," said Lorelei, yawning.  
  
"I have so much work," she grumbled, pulling a book towards her.  
  
Lorelei stopped her.  
  
"Lex, what happened?" she asked.  
  
Alexia looked up at her.  
  
"Nothing happen," she said, tearing the book away and opening it to the correct chapter.  
  
"You were saying something about Mudbloods," Lorelei whispered.  
  
"I.what?" asked Alexia.  
  
"You just yelled something about.Mudblood filth.." said Lorelei, her eyes full of tears.  
  
Alexia froze and the world of the man echoed in her ears. She dropped her book and it hit the floor with a loud thud. She sat there, frozen, full of questions and fear. Lorelei sat down and looked at her.  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked.  
  
Alexia looked blankly at the floor for several minutes. The dream she had had replayed several times in her head. She looked at Lorelei and sighed.  
  
"Nothing, just forget it," she said, "I have potions to finish."  
  
Alexia picked up the book again and began to scrawl down words and looked out of the corner of her eye. Lorelei was still looking at her.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
Lorelei shook her head.  
  
"It's just.I thought friends told each other stuff," she muttered.  
  
Alexia rolled her eyes.  
  
"You're being stupid," she said firmly, and continued writing.  
  
Several minutes went by and all the noise that could be heard was the scratching of her quill. Lorelei watched her, and Alexia tried her best to ignore her. Finally Alexia threw down her quill, parchment and book and glared at Lorelei.  
  
"What!" she yelled, "Why are you staring at me?"  
  
Lorelei didn't looked scared, in fact she looked upset.  
  
"Because I want to know what's wrong!" shouted Lorelei back.  
  
Alexia growled with anger. She tried to move past Lorelei, but she pulled out her wand.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Tell me or I'll hex you," threatened Lorelei, "I swear I'll do it, Lex."  
  
Alexia sighed and sat back down. For a moment Lorelei just started at her and finally Alexia spoke.  
  
She told Lorelei everything, everything she had seen. She had carefully left out the fact that she had in fact seen the young child version of herself crying. When she had finished Lorelei simply stared at her.  
  
"Do you know who the man was?" she asked.  
  
Alexia shrugged.  
  
"He looked a little familiar.but I dunno," she said.  
  
Lorelei moved next to her.  
  
"It was just a dream," she said, trying to sound convincing.  
  
Alexia nodded slowly and picked up her book. The dream raced through her mind again as she tried to finish her work.  
  
That day was a blur. She didn't remember any of her classes but some how found herself at dinner with Venefica sitting next to her reminding she had her detentions with Snape. Alexia dropped her head to the table with a loud thud. Lorelei rolled her eyes across the table and Alexia looked at her.  
  
"Can my life get any worse?" she moaned.  
  
"You have the weekend to look forward to," said Venefica trying to sound happy.  
  
Just then Parvati walked by and glared and Alexia.  
  
"And why is she still mad?" she fumed.  
  
"Said that she saw you and Scott holding hands in the hall the other day," muttered Verity, who was next to Lorelei.  
  
Alexia growled and finished her dinner.  
  
Afterwards she headed up to the common room, threw her bag on the bed and left again. She didn't have time to do anything, she was due at Snape's office in ten minutes. She headed out, waving good-bye to Lorelei and Venefica, who were sitting with Parvati.  
  
She had reached the Entrance Hall and looked around. Only a few minutes left, why had she been so quick to mouth off? She had just started into the dungeons when someone yelled behind her.  
  
"Hey, Lex," the voice said.  
  
She turned around and saw Scott walking towards her.  
  
"Detention?" he asked.  
  
She nodded wearily. She wished he would leave.in all honesty she didn't him around right now. She turned to continue down the hall, but Scott followed right behind her. She reached Snape's door and could hear the clock chiming seven. She grinned shortly at Scott and entered the office. He looked thoroughly disappointed, as though he had expected her to skip her detention to be with him.  
  
Snape sat at the desk in his office, scribbling on a piece of parchment. Alexia walked quietly to his desk and he looked at her.  
  
"On time, good," he said, not smiling, "You will spend this detention pickling slugs."  
  
Alexia looked at the corner, where several jars and a cauldron of liquid were setting. She sighed and began to work.  
  
It was after midnight when Snape finally released her. She smelled like nasty and as she walked up the steps to the Entrance Hall, she looked out the window. It was snowing again and she smiled. She loved snow, but it made her sad to see it. It made her miss home and her brother.  
  
She reached the empty common room and made her way to the dormitory. There she found that no one was asleep, in fact they seemed to be having a heated argument about something. Parvati was sitting on her trunk, glaring angrily at Lorelei and Venefica, while Verity sat on her bed, listening intently.  
  
"You're being stupid, Parvati!" yelled Venefica.  
  
"She knew I liked him!" growled Parvati.  
  
"No she didn't," muttered Verity, looking at Parvati, "You never told her."  
  
"Yes I did!" snapped Parvati.  
  
"Well, I don't remember you tell me," said Alexia, closing the door and looking a little worried.  
  
Parvati looked up at her and froze.  
  
"Erm.oh.well." she stammered.  
  
"Look I'm sorry," said Alexia, "I didn't know, kay?"  
  
Parvati looked at Alexia for a moment. She wasn't sure what was going to happen. Then suddenly Parvati flung her arms around Alexia.  
  
"Oh Lex, I'm so sorry!" cried Parvati.  
  
Alexia looked at Venefica, who rolled her eyes.  
  
The next day Alexia woke up to some poking her in the arm.  
  
"What?" she grumbled.  
  
"Wake up Lex," said Verity.  
  
Alexia lifted her head and looked at her.  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked.  
  
"Snape is outside the common room looking for you," said Verity.  
  
It took several seconds before these words sank in.  
  
"Wait.who.what?" asked Alexia.  
  
"Snape is outside waiting for you," said Verity again.  
  
"Why?" she asked.  
  
"Detention." muttered Verity.  
  
"Detention!" exclaimed Alexia, "On a bloody Saturday?"  
  
Verity gave an uneasy smile and Alexia threw off the covers. She dressed quickly and left the common room.  
  
Sure enough there stood Snape, smiling with glee.  
  
"I thought I had made myself perfectly clear," he spat.  
  
"Evidently not," muttered Alexia, tying her shoe.  
  
"You've got a days worth of detention to do," stated Snape, as he led her back to his office.  
  
The day was hell. She spent five hours scrubbing all of the cauldrons and then the rest of it measuring and filling potion ingredient vials. At one point while she was elbow deep in cleaning a cauldron, Fe entered Snape's classroom, and seeing he wasn't there, she proceeded to laugh at Alexia.  
  
"Detention?" she asked, "Nice one Malfoy, you really don't live up to your name."  
  
"Shove off!" hissed Alexia.  
  
Fe turned around and smiled. She pulled her wand out and Alexia busied herself with the cauldron again. She was scrubbing when suddenly.  
  
SPLASH!  
  
Alexia felt a liquid covering her from head to toe and a bucket fall over her head. She lifted it slightly and scowled at Fe, who howled with laughter.  
  
"You look like a wet rat, Malfoy!" she said, leaning on a desk as she laughed.  
  
Alexia removed the bucket from her head and reached for her wand. Just as she pulled it out Snape re-entered the classroom.  
  
"Can I help you, Fe?" he asked.  
  
He looked at Alexia and she noticed a small smile crossing his face.  
  
"Get out, Malfoy," he said, "No detention tomorrow, seven sharp on Monday."  
  
Alexia stormed out of the room, fuming with anger. She could still see Fe's face laughing at her. She wanted revenge, but now would be too obvious.she would have to wait until later. 


	14. Whispers in the Dark

Chapter Thirteen  
  
Whispers in the Dark  
  
Sunday was filled with catching up homework and loud arguing between her fellow Hufflepuffs. She didn't even remember going to sleep when Alexia woke Monday morning and stuffed her face right back into the pillow.  
  
"You hafta get up," muttered Lorelei, "Flitwick will have a fit if you don't . . ."  
  
"Then let him have one," Alexia grumbled.  
  
Before she knew it Venefica, who stood on the other side of the bed with her wand out, had flung her out of bed.  
  
"I HAD to do something," she said to a disgruntled Alexia as she dressed.  
  
Alexia pulled on her clothes and looked out the window and she tied her tie. The sun was shining above the icy grounds and she could even hear a bird chirping in the distance. She rubbed her eyes, combed her hair and set off for the Great Hall.  
  
She met Linnea and Piper outside, who were waiting for her.  
  
"Hey Lex!" yelled Linnea, seeing her heading into the Great Hall.  
  
She looked up and gave a very small smile. Linnea's face dropped and she moved towards her. As she sat down Linnea and Piper sat across from her.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Piper.  
  
"Detention . . .again tonight," spat Alexia, stabbing her toast with the knife.  
  
"You shouldn't have mouthed off," said Verity, who was eyeing the apples with great interest and then finally stabbed one with her fork and began to eat it.  
  
"He shouldn't be such . . ." started Alexia but she wasn't able to finish.  
  
At that moment Snape swept over to the table and glared at Alexia.  
  
"Tonight will be your last night of detention," he muttered, looking quickly from her to her friends, "I don't have anymore time to waste with you. Seven sharp."  
  
He walked away and Alexia clenched her teeth. Linnea looked very nervous.  
  
"Nice . . .isn't he?" she asked.  
  
"You wanna change spots with me?' asked Alexia, "Breena could whip up a good Polyjuice potion and you could go as me."  
  
Linnea rolled her eyes.  
  
"Nice try Lex, but you mouthed off, so you gotta pay the price," she said, smiling, "Besides, you should know, Polyjuice takes weeks to make."  
  
Alexia rolled her eyes as Linnea and Piper headed back to the Gryffindor table and Alexia started on her piece of toast. She ate quietly as she watched Parvati read the Daily Prophet. As she read silently her jaw suddenly dropped.  
  
"Bloody hell," she muttered, looking at the paper.  
  
Alexia looked up from the notes she was going over and stared at Parvati.  
  
"What?" she asked, swallowing the large chunk of toast that scratched down her throat.  
  
"There was an struggle last night at Azkaban," said Parvati, "Looks like someone tried to get out, one of the high security prisoners."  
  
"What?" asked Verity, who suddenly looked up from her food.  
  
Parvati smoothed the paper out on the table and began to read.  
  
"Last night, three men attempted to break into Azkaban," she read, "Officials refused to release who the men where trying to free. They said it wasn't a big deal to anyone, and no one should be alarmed."  
  
"Not be alarmed?" asked Alexia, "What is he talking about? Someone tried to break into Azkaban."  
  
But Parvati interrupted her.  
  
"This reporter would just like to remind everyone that the last time this happened, You-Know-Who was behind it and his supporters are still among us." Parvati read, sounding scared, "Maybe the Ministry should keep that in mind."  
  
Alexia finished drinking her milk and she rolled her eyes.  
  
"The people at the ministry are so stupid, I mean how could they ignore signs like that? It's insane," she said.  
  
Parvati kept her eyes glued to the paper and Alexia looked at her.  
  
"What's the matter?" she asked.  
  
"Well, it's just, everyone in Azkaban is dangerous and if someone was trying to get out that's really uncommon," said Parvati.  
  
"But they didn't get out," said Verity, rolling her eyes, "I don't see. . ."  
  
"Exactly, you don't see what this means," said Parvati sounding a little heated with anger, "A dangerous criminal tried to escape prison. . .something is going on."  
  
Alexia simply shook her head. Parvati was imagining things; she had to be.  
  
~***~  
  
That night after the lessons were over Alexia left the bustling common room and headed down towards Snape's dungeon.  
  
Just one more night, she told herself, Then I'll be rid of him.  
  
Alexia entered the room and found a pile of disgusting body parts lying on the table. She nearly gagged seeing them, wondering what was going. Then Snape emerged from behind his desk, looking very aggravated.  
  
"Tonight you'll be cleaning up the class room," he said, "Without magic and disposing the leftovers from the Advanced Potions Class. Get working."  
  
He then left the room without a sound, leaving his office door open. Alexia sighed and began to collect the parts.  
  
It consisted of everything from frog intestines to newt eyes, all of it swimming in blood. Alexia's head was swimming in the smell, but she knew she had to keep going. She grabbed hands full of the nasty leftovers and threw them into a bucket.  
  
Why the bloody hell couldn't the students just have done this one their own? She thought, throwing a few frog skins into the bucket.  
  
It seemed like hours and when she stopped for a moment she noticed she was up to her elbows in blood. She stood up and went to wash her hands. As she did she could hear Snape talking in the other room.  
  
"I know this is serious, but I'm telling you there isn't anything we can do until we have proof," he said.  
  
"There is plenty of proof, Severus, a goddam Death Eater tried to break out of Azkaban," said the voice, "What more proof do you need?"  
  
"He tried, there is no other proof of who it is or if he had outside help," said Snape with a thud, apparently he slammed his hand down on the table.  
  
"You know, I bet this has Malfoy's prints all over it," said the other voice.  
  
Alexia heard Snape give an aggravated sigh.  
  
"Look, we'll talk about this later," he said, "I have a student to check on."  
  
Alexia sprinted towards the pile of guts and slipped on some blood, falling face first onto the stone floor of the dungeon. She yelped in pain and Snape ran toward her.  
  
"What the hell happened Malfoy?" he asked.  
  
He helped her up, a very un-Snape like thing to do and she looked up at him. Blood was streaming down her face and it was mixing with the blood that had been on the floor. She held up her sleeve to her face and tried to explain.  
  
"I was walking and I slipped. . ." she stammered, but Snape cut her off.  
  
"Go to the Hospital wing and have Madame Pomphrey fix you up," he snapped.  
  
Lex nodded and Snape handed her an already bloody towel to soak most of the blood up.  
  
She walked slowly up to the hospital wing, feeling slightly dizzy. She had made it up the stairs to the floor of the hospital wing, but collapsed just short of the door. As she lay there she could hear voices swimming in her head.  
  
"You know, I bet this has Malfoy's prints all over it," said the voice of the man she had heard in Snape's office.  
  
There was a mixture or screaming and yelling, angry words and the like. She could feel herself swimming in the cloud of my mind. The yells became echoed and distorted and then she saw herself in a room, a large cell and there was the same man from her previous dreams. His blond hair fell over his eyes and he glared up at her.  
  
"They were miserable failures," he muttered, "Can't even do a simple task."  
  
He sighed and stood up. He was slender and nearly 6' 3" and was pale as snow.  
  
"But in due time I shall be out of this place," he hissed, "And then you will perish!"  
  
With these words a cold sensation raced through her body and she started to scream.  
  
She sat up and looked around. She was lying in a soft bed in the hospital wing and her head ached. She looked at the clock and saw it was nearly three AM. Madame Pomfrey came over and smiled at her.  
  
"How are you feeling?" she asked, setting a wet cloth of her forehead.  
  
Alexia shrugged and gave a small grin.  
  
"You'll be spending the night in here," Pomfrey said, "You may have another dizzy spell, and I want to make sure you're alright."  
  
Alexia laid back and clothes her eyes. Madame Pomfrey smiled at her.  
  
"Get some sleep," she said, as Alexia clothed her eyes and drifted back into sleep. 


End file.
